The Associated Press has updated the AP Mobile iPhone application and launched an app for the Palm Pre.

After the soft launch of version 2.0 of the AP Mobile app, a new version was released in the Apple App Store in response to user feedback. Like the AP's iPhone and Nokia/Symbian apps, the AP Palm Pre app lets consumers customize a homepage of the latest AP stories and press releases in more than a dozen different categories.

"The AP was the first to debut a dedicated iPhone news application in June 2008 during the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference -- a month before the Apple Apps Store opened," said Jeff Litvack, general manager of mobile and emerging products for the AP, New York.

"From that moment on, our iPhone app set the standard for all of the other mobile news apps that we've developed to date from the Palm Pre to Nokia N97 to BlackBerry," he said.

"Timing of the iPhone 2.0 update coincides with the AP Mobile one-year anniversary and ahead of this year's Apple WWDC event."

What opportunities does the AP offer to mobile advertisers and marketers? For one, the AP's mobile platforms are ad-supported.

The new AP Mobile app lets iPhone and iPod touch users customize their own "Front Page" to define the news they see when they open the app.

Featuring more than 50 types of news to choose from, version 2.0 lets users select from a range of categories, including Golf, Showbiz Reviews, Wacky, Tech and Travel.

"As the technology is being developed to support customization, as shown with the new Front Page feature found on the iPhone, Pre and N97, mobile advertisers and marketers are able to really shape their messaging and develop campaigns for niche audiences based on interests, in addition to the hyper-local angle stemming from the more than 1,000 local news providers that contribute stories to the AP Mobile network," Mr. Litvack said.

With AP Mobile's "Front Page," iPhone users can now decide what will show up on their AP Mobile homepage, as well as the number of stories displayed for each news category.

Timing of the AP Mobile release coincides with the first anniversary of AP Mobile.

In addition to AP Mobile's "Front Page," features in the update include Global Regional Selection, letting users select global regions to get news from specific countries and regions.

Multi-language versions are available including Spanish, French and German for specific regions.

The Weather Section includes radar/satellite views, temperature, conditions, highs and lows, hourly forecasts for up to six hours and five-day forecast for local area from AccuWeather.com.

Users can choose to view weather in Celsius or Fahrenheit.

Health and Science Channels provide users access to the latest health and science stories with the addition of new channels.

Existing news categories include: Top News, Local News, Business, Politics, Tech, Sports, Showbiz and Wacky.

Users can share stories, photos and online video with friends through SMS and email, as well as with their social network through integration with Twitter (for text) and Facebook (for all three).

Twitter users are also invited to follow AP Mobile for breaking developments at http://www.twitter.com/AP_Mobile.

Users can report breaking news and be heard around the globe through an enhanced "Send to AP" feature.

Users can check out the latest company press announcements. AP Mobile also provides access to press releases from third-party partners.

Service updates can also be found on the AP Mobile blog at http://blog.apnews.com.

Sixty-three percent of AP Mobile users are in the 18-34 age bracket.

Fifty-three percent of AP Mobile users earn more than $75,000 per year, with men representing 78 percent of all traffic, and 82 percent for sports.

"Up until now, the majority of the AP Mobile readership comes to us through iPhone," Mr. Litvack said. "In fact, iPhone users visit AP Mobile five times more often than other smartphone users -- iPhone and BlackBerry users both average seven page views per visit to AP Mobile.

"Both of the apps have been available since last year, and we suspect that the audience numbers may shift with the continued introduction of mobile apps and widgets for newly released smartphones," he said.