Rams-bling

Mr Mustard notes the launch of the Barnet Council iPhone app which does interest him except that he is one of the vast majority of the populace who don't have an iPhone so he will have to, for now, stick to his quill pen and vellum.

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Council services available ‘app’ the touch of a button

Borough residents now have access to the council's wide range of services at their fingertips, with the launch of Barnet Council’s official Smartphone application.

Available to download on iPhone via the Apple App Store, the free application which has been designed and created in-house, allows users to find out local information wherever they are and whenever they want.

The app also allows users to find useful information, see the latest council jobs, contact their local councillor, find answers to common questions and get involved in local consultations.

Residents can also pay for their council tax, sign-up for pay-by-phone parking or search an interactive map of local activities via the application.

Councillor Robert Rams, Cabinet Member for Customer Access and Partnerships said:

“By launching the official Barnet Council’s app, we are not only increasing the number of ways residents can contact and engage with the council, but are achieving this in a cost effective way, proving excellent value for money to the taxpayer.

“Smartphone applications are now widely used by many companies, but as far as we are aware, Barnet is one of the first local authorities to design and launch its own unique version.”

The official Barnet Council’s app is compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and the iPad. An operating system of iOS 4.3 or later is required. An application for Android supported Smartphones is currently being developed and will be launch in due course.

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Mr Mustard thinks that the press release should say launched and not launch - does no-one read these before release?

Mr Mustard has just noticed the punny heading for the press release. App the touch of a button. There aren't buttons on an iPhone - isn't that the point of them?

Do Councillors really believe these Press Releases that go out in their name, or think that we will believe them? See the section in bold above and then see the two following links of earlier council apps, from January 2010 and from September 2009 ( Barnet Council missed that particular bus ). So Cllr Rams words are not app-licable or app-osite or app-propriate or ( stop now Mr Mustard! )

"As far as we are aware" - you aren't at all aware, Cllr Rams. Please stop making this sort of stupid claim - it only makes you look silly, not clever.

As to how cost-effective the app is, we will have to wait and see when the cost information gets released. It is good to open up this modern day channel but early reports on screen layout are critical in that they have not been optimised for the screen size.

Yours frugally

Mr Mustard