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Having made their back catalogue available on iTunes last year, the Beatles now have an official iPhone app, based on the Cirque du Soleil musical LOVE. The app, developed by Mobile Roadie, is free and went live on the App Store this morning.
The show itself is based in the Mirage casino in Las Vegas, and is the subject of a documentary called Altogether Now. The new app aims to promote both with a mixture of video clips, photos and news. The app also promises exclusive ticket offers for Vegas-goers.
Oh, and there’s music. The LOVE album has recently been added to iTunes, so the app includes 30-second preview clips with links to buy the full songs from Apple’s digital music store. You can comment on songs (and read other people’s comments), as well as signing in to Facebook and Twitter to let friends know what you think.
The songs aren’t full streams, but then this is a free app, so that’s hardly unexpected. Update: However, if you do own the LOVE album and the tracks are on your iPhone or iPod touch, you can play them from within the app.
The app weighs in at 7.4MB to download, although the music and videos are streamed in, so you’ll require a connection for that content. The videos are impressive, and certainly whet your appetite for the show itself. We thought it was the first official Beatles app for the iPhone, but it turns out it’s the second, following the release last month of lyrics and guitar chords app The Beatles: The Little Black Song Book.
The LOVE app might be purely promotional, but it’s sure to be popular with iPhone-owning Fab Four fans. We’re hopeful it won’t be the last Beatles app, though: with Rock Band already available on iPhone, how about bringing the Beatles version to iOS too? And we’d love to see a trippy interactive Yellow Submarine app, perhaps using the kind of technology seen in the innovative RjDj app.
Mobile Roadie — which makes apps for a host of bands — also supports Android and BlackBerry. Given the iTunes tie-in, however, we’re guessing this is iOS-only for now.
