App Review - Weather Channel Max For iPad

What would you say if I told you I could stuff a whole specialized cable network into your iPad, provide just about everything you get from that network, plus add some cool social networking features and tons of special information you can only get online?

Don't answer too fast. I'm talking about The Weather Channel Max for iPad, and this app is the definition of running before you walk, an exercise guaranteed to make you look awkward and uncoordinated.

But let's get to the positives first: The Weather Channel Max app for iPad indeed gives you just about everything The Weather Channel on TV offers. You get forecast videos, which are also available in just about every other weather app out there. But you also get storm videos, national and local weather alerts, tweets from TWC personalities, and live traffic cams. There are weather maps with overlay layers for radar, temperature, rainfall, snowfall, and clouds. And of course, just as in a cable weather broadcast, the maps are in motion.

In addition to all that, the app is free. So how could you be anything but ecstatic with this app?

Let's start with the "free" part. TWC Max for iPad may be free, but by the time you've used it for any length of time, you will probably wish it were not. That's because TWC Max is chock full of ads. Static ads appear on selected pages at selected times. Every video starts with a commercial. You don't care; you're not buying the product; you just want to know if it's going to rain. Yet there they are.

So even though the app is free, you feel like there's an opportunity cost just for running it. You know how you will pay a few hundred bucks for a new computer every two or three years because the old one's just too slow? That's how you will end up feeling about TWC Max. You'll gladly pay to get the weather information you want without the time-burn of watching another car commercial.

What else? The videos load slowly. The maps animate slowly. And TWC Max is so notorious for crashing that some iTunes store reviewers have taken to calling it TWC Crash.

There's a ton of information in TWC Max, but TWC has misjudged how much of it can be delivered without crippling the app. There's a chance of a sunny future in the forecast, but for right now, this one's a washout.

Storm Stories is Making the Weather Channel Very Popular

When we study brand name loyalty we often think of products and services however, we should also look at mass media such as the Fox television network or The Weather Channel. The weather channel has done something very intelligence during Hurricane Season they call themselves the Hurricane Authority and they really are the hurricane authority to considering that they were the number one watched media during Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Rita and Hurricane Wilma.

The Weather Channel has also done something very unique, as they have introduced a new series that is play each night called; Storm Stories. Storm Stories has become a very well watched TV series and has gained ratings against the other major networks, evening news and most popular television shows. Why is this? It is because people are concerned with the weather and the weather channel is trying to reinvent itself. It is working.

As a case study The Weather Channel shows a remarkable insight into brand name loyalty and brand line extension. Whoever is doing the marketing for The Weather Channel should indeed be congratulated on a job well done. In fact, The Weather Channel should be studied at all major business goals, which specialize in branding. Consider this in 2006.

Weathervanes - The Primitive Weather Channel

Weathervanes are a classic weather telling device. In days before the weather channel, these pieces of metal, posted on the top of the barn were exceedingly popular to have around. They would let the folks on the farm know if there was a storm coming their way. It was the only real clue the pioneers had as to what the weather was doing, and when the winds were shifting. They would use that information to make their own predictions on what kinds of weather may be coming their way.

But weathervanes go back far before the pioneer days and the Wizard of Oz, they go back to the times of Ancient Greece. In 48 B.C., there were weathervanes built to give the Greeks a clue to what was happening with the winds, one of them as a massive man-sized weathervane that was half man, half fish. They hoped to have some idea of the power of the winds, through their weathervanes.

Further forward in history, the Vikings also seemed to know a thing or two about weathervanes' usefulness to tell weather. Theirs regularly had designs of Norse mythological animals and would be put on a ship so sailors could know what was happening in the atmosphere. On land, they were put atop Scandinavian churches.

But often you have likely seen the rooster as an animal on weathervanes. You may think that this is because of the old country influence, but it actually goes back much, much further. These rooster weathervanes became popular in the ninth century when the Pope wanted a religious reminder to adorn the top of the church. His selection was pulled from the bible, Luke 22:34, stating the morning after the last supper the cock would not crow until Peter denounced Jesus three times. Because of this verse, there are rooster weathervanes adorning chapels and abbey's throughout Europe and beyond.

When it comes to the translation of the words weathervanes, you may actually picture something a little different. It is believed the word vane comes from the original 'fane' meaning flag in Anglo-Saxon. This would make sense, as through medieval times there were many flags and banners posted above buildings that would essentially serve the purpose of a weather vane. At some point, either because they grew tired of the wearing out of the cloth, or the cost to replace it, they moved to metal flags, some with coats of arms or other insignia, that were on posts where they could still shift and move with the wind.

Still today weather vanes are popular. While we may have better technology when it comes to predicting the weather, like Doppler radar instead of weathervanes, many still like the tradition of the pieces, and the antique look they bring to their home.

In many rural areas you can still find weathervanes in many designs from flags to ships, dogs, horses, and the famous rooster adorning homes and barns. While they may no longer need to be your only source for weather information, they are a great way to appreciate a blast of wind as they did in the past.