Verizon Center Debuts Mobile App for Android, iPhone and iPod Touch; Blackberry Version in Development Stages
YinzCam Client List Includes the NFL’s Pittsburgh Steelers, San Francisco 49ers and New England Patriots
February 1, 2011
Verizon Center debuts a mobile app for Android, iPhone and iPod Touch today that will allow fans to add to their live event experience at the downtown D.C. venue for all games, concerts and events. The free mobile app, developed by YinzCam, is available for download from the Android Market for Android devices, the App Store for iPhone and iPod Touch, and during hockey and basketball games at Verizon Center via text messaging to a specified short code. The customer-friendly app provides detailed, searchable maps and locations for all concession food items and drinks, guest services, bathrooms, ATM machines, stairs, elevators, entrances and exits. Additional features include a schedule of all upcoming games, concerts and events, and a customer feedback section for fans to submit queries or concerns during an event. The mobile app also has a QR Code Reader that will eventually provide fans with exclusive digital media content via QR Codes placed throughout the arena. A Blackberry version of the mobile app is currently in development.
“We live in a wired community where everyone is connected via mobile devices,” said Ted Leonsis, founder and chairman of Monumental Sports & Entertainment. “By creating this mobile app and continuing to increase our bandwidth inside the arena, we are taking another step in providing added customer service to the live entertainment experience.”
YinzCam, the developer of the mobile app for Verizon Center, is a Pittsburgh-based, privately-held company created via a spin-off from Carnegie Mellon University. The company offers experiential mobile and suite products for companies to leverage their digital media assets. Other clients for YinzCam include the NFL’s Pittsburgh Steelers, San Francisco 49ers and New England Patriots.
Additional wi-fi access points were installed throughout the arena in an effort to increase the available bandwidth for cellphone users, including Smartphone users, and allow for the use of the mobile app during events. The system installed is the same found at Nationals Park, home to MLB’s Washington Nationals.
The official name of the mobile app is “Verizon Center Mobile.” To download the app during a Capitals game text “ARENA” to 43803 and during a Wizards game to 71855. Then just follow the directions in the bounce back message. Links to download the mobile app versions for iPhone and iPod Touch can be found by visiting the App Store or by going to Verizon Center’s website at www.verizoncenter.com. For the Android version of the app please visit the Android Market.
New mobile apps are being developed for the NHL’s Washington Capitals, the NBA’s Washington Wizards and the WNBA’s Washington Mystics. The team apps are planned to launch later this year.
Verizon Center is a 20,000-seat multi-purpose sports and entertainment venue, owned and operated by Monumental Sports & Entertainment, in the Penn Quarter neighborhood of Chinatown in downtown Washington, D.C. Owned and operated by one of the largest integrated sports and entertainment companies in the country with one of the most diverse partnership groups in all of sports, Verizon Center is home to the NBA’s Washington Wizards, the NHL’s Washington Capitals, the WNBA’s Washington Mystics and the NCAA’s Georgetown Hoyas men’s basketball team. As the home for three professional sports franchises and a local college basketball team, Verizon Center hosts on average a total of 220 events per year inclusive of games, concerts, family shows and world-class sporting events. The arena is the heart of a $6.7 million redevelopment of downtown Washington, D.C., that began 13 years ago when the arena opened.