TCU to launch iPhone application

Fort Worth, TX

9/8/2009

TCU will launch “iTCU,” a new iPhone application September 14.

“Research has shown the iPhone is the third most popular platform to access www.tcu.edu, and TCU students appear to be eager to access other TCU resources from their mobile devices.  We wanted to better gauge this demand from students and the TCU community by releasing iTCU,” said Bryan Lucas, executive director of technology resources. “We are one of only around a dozen schools with any such application.”

The free application, which will be available in the iTunes App Store, will feature a GPS-enabled interactive map of the University’s campus, a directory feature, course information, official events, official news, images of campus, athletics schedules and scores, and University content on YouTube and iTunesU.  TCU will seek student feedback to enhance the application in the future. The application will also offer a low bandwidth web page for other smart phones that offers some of the functionality of the iPhone application.

TCU continues to seek new ways to market to and reach its constituents. “This project was a joint effort,” said Victor Neil, director of web site management. “It is important to integrate all of our communication tools at TCU, so our marketing & communication department worked with our technology resources department to establish a mobile portal that represents the TCU brand in look and feel.”

TCU worked with developers from TerriblyClever Design, now part of Blackboard Inc., to develop the application. The TCU application is a version of Blackboard’s MobilEdu™, the category-defining suite of iPhone and mobile Web applications for education. Intended to support students’ mobile lifestyle, MobileEdu allows institutions to deliver a rich set of campus life services and content to mobile devices, uniquely branded for each institution, to better connect current students, parents, faculty, prospective students and alumni to the campus experience in a way that wasn't possible before.

For more information about MobilEdu, please visit http://blackboard.com/Company/MobilEdu.aspx.