Johannesburg-based Creamer Media group has launched an iPhone 3G application for its online Mining Weekly publication. It may be the first iPhone application developed in the area, BizCommunity reported.

“It is our intention to leverage off the international popularity of the iPhone to build our brand abroad and become the leading source of global mining news and information. We believe it is the first mining news service accessible on any phone, anywhere,” said Kenneth Creamer, CEO of Creamer Media.

The Fring iPhone app and Ushahidi smart phone app are both available locally, but it is unknown if they were developed locally, BizCommunity reported. Creamer Media is the publisher of Engineering News, Mining Weekly, Polity and the Research Channel.

The Mining Weekly application will be based on the same content management system the Internet Web site uses, and will allow users to have the same functionality and and get the news updates the non-mobile site has, with regional updates available for Africa, Europe, Asia, Australasia, North America and South America, BizCommunity reported.

“The way media is moving is represented in this device, people are accessing media in new integrated ways and we took the decision to be the first in South Africa to develop an application for the iPhone,” Creamer said, according to BizCommunity.