In an effort to cater to people who are constantly on the move, AccuWeather Inc. has launched the AccuWeather Quick application.

The application offers consumers only the weather information they need such as current conditions, multiday forecast, hourly data and radar/ satellite ? without any clutter.

?We got many requests for an ad-free app, and we were tired of all the weather apps that looked exactly the same (lots of tabs/buttons, and all the same basic shades of blue),? said Michael Sylvie, director of user experience/interactive media at AccuWeather, State College, PA.

?So, we decided to make a paid app, and make it fun, especially in using the accelerometer to navigate rather than all the buttons and tabs other apps use,? he said.

AccuWeather Quick delivers information visually, using colorful icons. It uses the iPhone?s accelerometer to make navigation easier.

For example, users can tilt the application for radar and flick their wrist to check other locations.

The ad is $0.99 in the iPhone App Store and is add-free. 

?The iPhone platform allows us some freedom because of the phone?s built-in accelerometer. It meant we didn?t have to take up valuable screen real estate with tabs for radar and to toggle among stored locations,? Mr. Sylvie said. ?Whether you?re clicking, shaking or flipping with your iPhone, the weather information in the app is one action away.?

AccuWeather has been doing a lot on mobile for quite some time. For example, AccuWeather.com recently added a School Closing Outlook, which predicts the probability of school cancellation for users? specific locations based on expected winter-season weather (see story).

The company also recently launched new languages for its global mobile Web site for a total of 33 translations, including three dialects of Chinese, three dialects of Spanish, two dialects of Portuguese and two dialects of English (see story).

AccuWeather has several mobile applications for different smartphone platforms, a mobile site and an SMS alert service.

?Weather is obviously critical information, especially with mobile users, but oftentimes it?s presented in a pretty boring ? or at least pretty standard ? fashion,? Mr. Sylvie said. ?We tried to provide a slick and fun UI (user interface) and take advantage of the iPhone?s functionality. I hope users will think we succeeded.

?I?m hoping this app will show that we?re not just any other weather provider,? he said. ?AccuWeather has always tried to present the weather in an engaging way, and so we wanted this app to be an extension of that.?