Official iPhone application launched by Wikipedia

The online collaborative encyclopedia Wikipedia is now available for download as an official application on Apple’s iPhone.

A Wikipedia application is now available for the iPhone and iPod touch

The free application, called Wikipedia Mobile, is published by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation, and can be downloaded from the iTunes App Store.

It aims to give iPhone and iPod touch users quick and easy access to all sorts of information, ranging from historical events to the life and career of US President Barack Obama. The Wikimedia Foundation said the application was easier to use than having to browse the web on their phone to find a specific fact, and also had the advantage of saving the user's search history.

Several other developers have also created Wiki-style encyclopedia apps for the iPhone and iPod touch. The Wikimedia Foundation acknowledged that while its official software lacked some features compared to existing applications, it was focusing on "speed and simplicity" with the first version of its software.

The Foundation said it would added further features in future versions based on requests from users, and welcomed contributions from other developers and programmers.

More than 1.5 billion applications have been sold through the iTunes App Store since it launched last July, with thousands of developers creating tens of thousands of programs which consumers can download to enhance their user experience on the iPhone and iPod touch.

Wikipedia recently announced that web users had contributed more than three million English-language articles to the site, which anyone can contribute to.

(http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/wikipedia/6054502/Wikipedia-launches-official-iPhone-application.html)