Apple’s now trademarked phrase “There’s an app for that!” seems to be appropriate for almost everything, right down to Prince William and Kate Middleton’s wedding.
The wedding of the decade will take place on April 29 across the pond, and the preparations are already in full swing.
Developers have already began making apps for various Smartphones, including Apple’s iPhone and iPad, which will give people around the world the chance to get countdowns to the wedding, updates, photos and even video, almost immediately following the ceremony.
There are apps that will even give you a ten-day forecast as to the weather in London near Westminster Abbey, and a list of royal protocol, in case you are one of the lucky few who will get the chance to meet the Queen.
You can also send the royal couple marriage advice and share it through Facebook and Twitter, so your friends can see you “chatting” with William and Kate.
For those of us not lucky enough to be able to cross the pond, we can take a tour of the London streets with Google’s 3-D mapping service introduced last month for the royal wedding. Within a few hours, all the video will be available through online resources like iTunes and Britain’s Decca Records.
The significance of this wedding probably doesn’t hit most of us as much as it does for those living overseas.
Personally, I wouldn’t spend money on any of these apps, because I don’t necessarily care to know any more about the royal wedding than what I already do.
My adverse reaction to the apps, though, prompted me to do some research around campus, to see if fellow students felt the same way.
Joseph Geary, a graduating senior, felt the same way as I do, saying that these apps aren’t really “important, because, regardless, as soon as the wedding is over, every major magazine, newspaper and online source will be carrying headlines
along with photos. I can wait until I’m at the checkout line in the grocery store to see them. And I don’t need an app for that.”
Jorgia Stone, who was born in England, and moved to America when she turned six, felt the same way.
“I wouldn’t get an app. The wedding is going to have so much publicity on it’s own that an app would be pointless.”
The apps are currently running from free up to $2.99, so even if you don’t think you have the absolute desire for such an app, it’s still something to do in your down time while your humanities professor is rambling on about, well, who knows.
The countdown has started, so we shall wait until April 29, when the wedding bells will chime and unite William and Kate.
Todd Sanborn can be reached at todd.sanborn@spartans.ut.edu.