UrbanWorld, a provider of mobile urban lifestyle content, has launched the first hip-hop lifestyle application for the iPhone and iPod touch.

UrbanWorld Wireless teamed with applications publisher PosiMotion to create the new application, which features news, pictures, music, videos and other urban lifestyle content. UrbanWireless targets a trendsetting urban youth demographic, primarily African-Americans and Latinos.

"UrbanWorld -- UDub! -- is the first app of its kind to provide news, music, wallpapers, music videos and features inside the app like iParty, our exclusive mobile V.I.P invite to the hottest parties in L.A., San Francisco, Las Vegas, NYC, Chicago, Miami and ATL," said Mike Johns, CEO of UrbanWorld Wireless, Los Angeles.

"We aim to stay consistent with the advancement of technology, curve the digital divide and provide content and entertainment news and information to the urban youth market," he said. "The urban culture needs representation in digital beyond just "ringtones, wallpaper, and games."

UrbanWorld offers a full mobile content catalogue that includes full-length digital music downloads via its digital music label, UDub!Music, the latest technology news with an urban twist via its Hi' Tech Pimpin' Web site and UDubNews, which offers global, up-to-the-minute urban news delivered via WAP, SMS, MMS, RSS and email.

All of these services are currently delivered to a worldwide subscriber base of nearly 4.6 million.

The UrbanWorld iPhone application features UDub!News, urban news from around the world; UDub!Video, exclusive music videos from hip-hop's biggest names, as well as emerging new talent; and UDub!Music, new mixtapes and music streamed each week by DJ Superstar Jay, a popular mixtape DJ based in New York.

DJ Supertar Jay is the first of many top DJs to be featured on the application.

Consumers have the ability to connect directly to iTunes and download featured songs to their devices.
In addition, the iPhone application features Cali Fly Girlz, wallpaper images of some of the world's most beautiful women.

In addition, application users can access iParty for special mobile VIP invitations and discounted admission to the hot spots in New York, Los Angeles and other U.S. cities.

UrbanJackAzz is a portal within the application featuring collections of online bloopers, videos and funnies with a hip-hop twist.

With the variety of content offered on the UrbanWorld application, it aspires to be a one-stop shop for urban lifestyle and provides content tailored specifically to its users.

This is a free, ad-supported application.

"In this economic crunch time, advertisers are looking for alternative cost-effective ways to reach the ?ever fast past moving' youth market," Mr. Johns said. "Mobile is the way if you want to reach the Latino/African-American or, as we say, ?urban' youth, our application provides the remedy.

"The urban consumer has been mobile," he said.

Research has shown that the urban youth market typically represent early adaptors of technology, from car stereos, computers and game consoles to mobile, according to UrbanWorld.

"You're talking about a culture that thrives on being the first to know or have," Mr. Johns said. "When the iPhone hit the market, this became every hip-hop head's new must-have gadget.

Mobile phones are common among 15-34 year olds, both male and female. The urban youth market represents a buying power well over $500 billion, according the recent report "U.S Urban Youth Market: Tapping the Power of the Trendsetting Hip Hop Culture & Lifestyle."

"This is a market where it is not uncommon for someone to own two phones," Mr. Johns said. "Yes, urban consumers are not only mobile, they have played a big role in pushing the sales of various devices including the T-Mobile Sidekick and Motorola Razr phones, to name a few.

"This application is more than a culture of ringtones or games," he said. "The UrbanWorld application provides daily information on news, culture and lifestyle relevant to the market we serve in real time."