(Image Caption: Facts and Figures: The Super Bowl game program app includes information on the game's history, which you can view in portrait or landscape formats.)
To its credit, Super Bowl XLIV Official Game Program lets you read in either portrait or landscape orientations, and it bookmarks the last page you were reading. However, switching orientations can cause you to jump ahead or backward in the article. And there's little attempt to optimize the content for the iPhone--pictures are just slapped into articles without much thought as to how they'll look on the iPhone's screen. In another example, the Pro Bowl program features a list of every player who's ever played in the NFL's all-star game, but you have to scroll from one end of the list to the other--you can't jump to a specific letter. The app is also prone to crashing.
Bottom line: If the is supposed to be the device that saves the publishing industry, the mobile version of Super Bowl XLIV Official NFL Game Program may well save print by reminding people that for all its flaws, a magazine or book is fairly easy to navigate. And I can't remember the last time a printed document crashed on me.
(Image Caption: Game-Time Snack: Super Bowl Foods tells you how to make appetizers and main dishes for your Super Bowl party. But if you want to know what ingredients go into a dish, you'll have to hit a separate tab.)
I don't know about you, but I expect to spend most of the three-and-a-half-hour run time of the Super Bowl stuffing my face. I thought from might be able to help me plan out my menu, but unfortunately, the $1 app fell short of my expectations. The food doesn't seem particularly tailored to a Super Bowl-themed event. I don't recall having too many soups at the Super Bowl parties I've attended over the years, yet this app offer more than half-a-dozen such recipes. One appetizer in particular is billed as "great for summer parties"--I know football season may seem interminable to some, but it hasn't yet crept into June.