Companies wield Apple’s iPhone as red-hot branding iron

“Stumped for a Christmas present? Target Corp. suggests giving that iPhone a shake,” Julio Ojeda-Zapata reports for The St. Paul Pioneer Press. “A new Target-branded downloadable application for the Apple handset lets users search for gifts in the Minneapolis-based retailer’s database. Select a gender and age and then agitate the iPhone to activate its internal accelerometer. Presto — the ‘Target’ app provides a gift tip, via a nifty snow-globe effect.”

“Target is among a stampede of corporations, celebrities and other prominent entities lending their names to iPhone apps (which typically also work on Apple’s iPod Touch). As a result, the computerlike portable devices are becoming a hot medium for promoting a brand via clever software programming, courtesy of iPhone-app contract developers,” Ojeda-Zapata reports.

iPhone/iPod touch apps emblazoned with big brands are all the rage lately, including:

• Amazon.com
• Ford Motor Co.
• LucasArts
• eBay
• GAP
• Ralph Lauren
• Sam’s Club
• Godiva
• Carling
• New York Lottery
• Starbucks

Full article here.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Carl H.” for the heads up.]