YFM create iPhone app

Just got a release from YFM, a Joburg radio station, that says its “the first radio station in Africa and among the first in the world” to release a custom application for the iPhone. (By “among first in the world” I presume they mean amongst radio stations.)

This is due to the influence of its CEO Kathan Pillay, somewhat of a tech freak. He’s a recovering journalist who has hacked a Linux kernel and majored in Political Science, Princeton University. I write this under correction, but he was also one of the first people in the world to send information over the early internet.

The app, MobiYze is available as a free download from the Apple iTunes store. This is a classic case of a regional media outlet, using the net to go global. Yfm says it “has always nurtured ambitions to take the brand outside of its Gauteng broadcast area, but has been held back by regulatory hurdles which do not allow private radio stations to acquire a national footprint”.

The station is already working on the next upgrade to the application which will allow for greater interactivity including instant polling.

Check it out.