It’s a little easier these days to find out what’s going on in Brownwood and to plan what to do for an evening thanks to the new iBrownwood Application created by local entrepreneur Charlie Musgrove.
Musgrove owns Addison Graphics through which he has a thriving graphic art and design business. He also has been researching a way to connect Brownwood through an iPhone app.
“I think it’s a good way to stay connected with things going on in town,” stated Musgrove.
The new application features information received from several sources related to local events, news, theater performances, movie times, social networking, and Brownwood related videos.
Musgrove did the development process on his own, stating that he came up with the idea several months ago and began researching iPhone platforms and ways to utilize them. He said that he was also inspired by the way the Brownwood Area Chamber of Commerce has used social networking to grow their websites. Musgrove’s research showed that using RSS feeds would dynamically update through the iPhone application and that its use would allow viewing these updates without having to visit each site separately saving time and frustration.
The development took about two to three months. Musgrove stated that Apple has some very stringent policies and requirements for applications to be featured in their store.
The current iBrownwood application is the first version ever offered. It is available for 99¢ in the App store on the iPhone, simply type “Brownwood” in the search and it will be the only application available. The current version only supports the iPhone; however future version updates may expand to other platforms.
Musgrove also talked about the possibility of expanding the information available on the app if he feels a website has information that is important to Brownwood as a whole and if it is updated often. The current application also has a feature that allows emergency broadcasts to all users to efficiently send out a notice or bulletin of emergency situations.
“Brownwood is on the cutting edge,” stated Musgrove. “Not many towns our size have applications like this. The ones that do are more tourist type towns with mostly maps.”
He stated that his iBrownwood application would be useful to those already living in Brownwood, those thinking about moving to the area and tourists alike.
