South Africa’s first news-radio app has arrived

Cape Town based media company, 2oceansvibe Media, recently announced the release of a multimedia app for its 2oceansvibe news and 2oceansvibe Radio services. This is a first for South Africa.

The app features multimedia news and video alongside live-presented streaming radio, while users can also create their own playlists and buy whatever song is playing – directly from the app (via iTunes). An Android version is under development.

According to the group, “This saves them a step, rather than using apps like Shazzam to identify the song playing for later purchase. This very same iTunes purchase feature is planned for roll out via iTunes Radio in the upcoming update to Apple’s iOS (iOS7). 2oceansvibe has not only pre-empted Apple’s own development by three months, this feature will remain unique to 2oceansvibe in South Africa, as this new version of iTunes Radio will not be available outside of the United States.”

Ironically, the popular internet radio station lays down a gauntlet to other mainstream broadcast stations in South Africa to catch-up, by including DJ schedule reminders and the ability for the user to request a song through the app directly to the DJ, a statement also reveals.

Moreover, from a news perspective, users can scroll and touch to read articles published on 2oceansvibe.com.

And they can add and read comments, view thumbnail galleries, zoom in on pictures, play full screen videos, filter by category and search, and share stories via email, text, Twitter and Facebook.

Further revealed is that the radio play button on the top right hand corner of the news menu allows users to stream 2oceansvibe Radio in the back ground while browsing stories.

“The radio portion of the app allows users to listen to live-presented streaming radio, while indicating the current show’s DJ, the song title and artist name, and the album’s cover artwork showing on the screen. Users can browse show schedules and set show reminders in their calendars from within the app, as well as listen to podcasts of shows they might have missed. The app therefore delivers a feature-rich non-desktop avenue for reading 2oceansvibe News and listening to 2oceansvibe Radio for users on the move, as well as those stuck behind office firewalls.”

Research also adds that one third of 2oceansvibe News’ 260,000 average monthly unique readership is attributed to mobile platforms, with 20% of the total audience accessing the website via iPhone.

Seth Rotherham, 2oceansvibe founder and CEO, remarked, “The South African consumer continues to mature and as cellphone call plan sizes decrease, data bundles are on the rise. In general we’re beginning to understand that 20mb of data for an hour of streaming radio is actually incredibly light. Look at the size of your average email attachment these days – a single 7 to 10mb email is not uncommon. If they’re tuned in via 3G instead of wi-fi it will hardly even dent their data bundles.”

“We’re massively excited about the new app, and I believe the time is right. I’m sure, in time, the likes of 5fm and the other mainstream stations will add in-app purchase of the music to their apps,” added Rotherham.

You can search for 2oceansvibe in the iTunes app store to download the app.