Obama uses iPhone to win support

By Maggie Shiels Technology reporter, BBC News, Silicon Valley

Presidential poiltics meets mobile technology

US Democratic candidate Barack Obama is set to turn the iPhone into a political recruiting tool with an application aimed at getting the vote out.

The most notable feature is a "Call Friends" option to help organise contacts in swing states.

His campaign blog said: "This tool is designed to help you become more directly involved in our campaign to change the country."

The free application was developed by volunteers in less than three weeks.

"This really has the potential to help the campaign," said one of the project leaders, Jason Grigsby.

"The use of mobile technology to get out the vote and get people involved is a way for the grass roots to really make an impact."

That is certainly what the Obama camp will be banking on.

In its latest blog, the campaign has written: "With only 33 days left, it's more important than ever to call your friends and family to make sure they are registered and voting for Barack."

The blog also said that it hopes the "Call Friends" feature will "generate thousands of additional personal contacts" - the aim being that these can be turned into votes.

"New wave"

Other features include making notes on which friends have been called, who they are supporting, and if they need a reminder call on election day.

The website said the total amount of calls the application makes are tallied but no information leaves the phone, so the privacy of friends and that of the user are protected.

The Obama camp has been praised for how it has used technology

Up-to-date news from the campaign will also be included, as will video, photos and talking points that can be used to convince friends to vote for the candidate.

Raven Zachary, another leader on the project, told the BBC: "The iPhone is one mobile platform and there are millions of voters who don't have the iPhone.

"But we are at the beginning of a new wave of mobile technology and we are seeing with the Obama campaign how he uses technology. This will become the norm moving forward."

That is a view backed by Declan McCullagh at CNET who told the BBC: "It's a pretty slick iPhone application.

"Having your friends sorted by battleground states is something I haven't seen any other politician come up with before. This is a glimpse of the future of high-tech politicking."

"This is an indicator of how mobile technology can impact political change," said Raven Zachary

One of the three developers who worked on the project said he did not believe John McCain's camp will not have time to best their efforts.

"It took us less than three weeks and if they haven't started coding already they won't catch up."

Senator Obama has earned himself a reputation for his use of technology in this campaign and made notable headlines when he announced his choice of Joe Biden for vice-president via text.

Both Mr Obama and Mr McCain have turned to the web to raise money, to YouTube to air adverts and to Facebook to raise their profiles among the social networking set.