Al Jazeera Launches a New Unified Mobile Application
Al Jazeera Media Network launched a new application utilising the Unified Mobile Platform (uMP) for the Network’s website content. The app was launched on the App store and Google Play, and is compatible with smartphones and tablets.
The app takes advantage of the new unified Content Management System (uCMS) architecture using GraphQL to simultaneously converge our newsrooms’ content in a single application – The Digital Voices of the Network.
Introducing the One Network, One App concept, David ‘Hos’ Hostetter, Digital’s Chief Technical Officer said, “Al Jazeera is committed to putting people at the centre of its editorial priorities by empowering its journalists to focus on the human story. I am excited to see this groundbreaking new mobile app come to light and provide the innovative experience and enable audiences to get the unique perspectives from across our digital newsrooms.”
It is a one-stop application for Al Jazeera Media Network, aggregating content from our various websites, Arabic, English, Mubasher, Balkans, and Chinese platforms as well as providing the broadcast live streams in a single place.
Commenting on the launch, Paul Ingalls, Vice President of Engineering said, “This application employs an elegantly simple and novel approach, providing Al Jazeera with a world-class application that we can build on in the future. Leveraging our experience working with some of the best companies in the world around design like Apple and Google - the design paradigms really embrace this concept of ‘Less is More,’ influencing our approach to this application. The technical architecture also means we only support one app leveraging React Native across all platforms improving our overall efficiency, performance, and quality.”
The user experience of the app is a simple tap in/out feed approach complimented by the dark mode theme, which is geared towards helping Al Jazeera expand to a younger and more diverse audience. The app has also provided the newsroom with a much more flexible architecture in the sections area than ever before with planned tighter integration with existing tools.
Main features of the app include searching for topics and stories across all channels, infinite scrolling, and access to cached content when weak or no internet/cellular connection – the Digital team anticipates to expand and improve this application, bringing the voices of all the Network’s websites to the audiences.
