One thing I’ve noticed since switching to the iPhone from my Nokia N82 is that the iPhone has become my go-to device when I need to look up certain kinds of information.
For example, take the Now Playing iPhone app. Before the iPhone, I’d go to mytelus.com/movies, select my province, then scan through a long list of cities to find a theatre near me. If I wanted to find a particular film, my task flow was pretty much the same, except I’d start with the movie. Even though my N82 was Internet-enabled, trying to view this site or any site that wasn’t optimized for mobile viewing on it was frustrating, and I’d just turn to to my computer instead.
Now that I have the iPhone, I launch Now Playing and let the phone’s geolocation features find all theatres within a 5km radius, or allow it to suggest which theatres in a larger radius are showing a particular title. Even if I’m sitting in front of my computer, I still reach for the iPhone.
It made me think that it would be amazing if there was an app like this for libraries that worked no matter your location. The Worldcat app comes close, but for now it only works with US libraries (and maybe UK ones?).
How has the iPhone (or Droid) changed your behaviour? What kinds of information do you search for with these devices?
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