Clicker, the company that wants to become the TV Guide for the Internet, just launched its first iPhone app. The new app is a companion piece to Clicker’s web service and aims to make it easier for users to quickly find iPhone-compatible videos on the Web. In addition to indexing these iPhone-friendly videos, Clicker’s iPhone app also offers a number of social networking features, including the ability to check in when you are watching a show.
A TV Guide for iPhone Video
Due to the absence of support for Flash on the iPhone, only a relatively limited selection of the videos in Clicker’s regular video guide are available on the iPhone. Earlier today, Clicker’s CEO Jim Lanzone told us that about 26% of all the shows and 35% of all the episodes in Clicker’s index are currently iPhone compatible (counting both shows on iTunes and free content). In total, Clicker currently indexes about 14,000 iPhone-compatible shows and 270,000 episodes. Lanzone also noted that given that Clicker also indexes iTunes’ database of paid TV show downloads, it might just be a better way to find downloadable iPhone content than Apple’s own iTunes app.
Clicker for iPhone is not just an easy way to find iPhone-compatible video content, however. The app also focuses on providing background information about shows and gives users easy access to the social features of the service (check-ins, activity streams from your friends, etc.). The app can also function as a kind of ‘meta-DVR,’ as it allows you to add shows to your playlist on Clicker (including videos that are not compatible with the iPhone).
Clicker plans to launch an iPad app in October.
