What would you expect from an Athlinks iPhone App?

Nothing. I don't have an iPhone. AT&T doesn't work at my house.

So you'd expect a new house out of the iPhone app then? Good to know ;)

I'd say access to our messages and updates and reminders of deadlines to sign up for events and updates for new events.

This site is great but there are lot of ways it can be better.

I say work on the site the way it's going to be accessed 99% of the time before devoting time to mobile

I hear you Jeff - the ultimate goal - and deciding factor - will be if the apps cross over to actual site features and improvements. For instance, the WDYDT tool was a big improvement over our previous version. Adding a mobile interface that would allow you to enter the day's training would take it another step further.

It would be a good idea to be able to fill out the WDYDT via text messaging, but AT&T also does not reach anywhere close to my house...Howabout making it accessible from any phone with online access?

Can you make it work on blackberry as well similar to the facebook BB app? limited features like Alex mentioend with WDYDT would be good. perhaps a calendar feature or some sort of a workout invite to your friends.

Also along the lines of Alex's comment, can you make a WAP page so that it works from any phone with a simple web browser to have a solution for a broader audience?

Great idea guys - as already mentioned I'd like to see an app which enabled me to update WDYDT via my iPhone. Also - race results / entries via mobile would be cool.

Great site - hoping to get more UK based athletes on here. I'm spreading the word!

I agree with Brian O': if you add WDYDT or other options to iPhone, don't neglect the Blackberry (or other PDA) users, and Jeff S: there are many other improvements that would be useful before recruiting for that iPhone project team.

The Facebook iPhone app is a pretty good adaptation of the web platform for the phone. Having said that, only a small subset of my friends are on Athlinks--if I update my Facebook status page with something like "just back from a 20 mile long training run" it sounds like I'm bragging--I think there might be a window of opportunity here for logging training as status updates--which could be done from the phone. It would be neat to know how my training compares to my friends and rivals. I've always been something of a laggard of updating my training logs, but if I knew some folks were paying attention--perhaps I'd be more motivated to do it. Some folks might be like, hah, he's slacking, I could get him, or others might be like whoa, better work on my speed. Never met a logging application that I stuck with.

Would love to be able to see local upcoming events, and who's doing them--and possibly state goals/see the goals of others for those events.

Just having a link to my athletic resume in my pocket would be pretty cool.

Thanks for all of the hard work on the site.

Sounds like everybody is on the right track...iPhone apps are all about figuring out what part of your offering would be more widely-used if it were conveniently at your fingertips. For Athlinks, it's clearly the WDYDT component, and Ted's description of some of the viral benefits is spot-on. As for the social networking arm of Athlinks, I think you guys are better off building a Facebook application and leveraging their user interface instead of putting a ton of development into trying to perfect yours. You'll get the same returns for less work, and you'll probably triple your membership.

How about a Blackberry app? AT&T stinks. But I do agree about having some sort of interface with Facebook.

Don't have an iPhone... the one thing I would love is to be able to access from anywhere is my training schedule, which is on Training Peaks at the moment. So far, I've avoided getting a Crackberry at work, but when people finally realize I don't have one, they're going to jam me with it. So a Blackberry app would probably be more useful to me.

Yep, WDYDT and would love to be able to see friends Action Tracker and content updates. I like the race results idea too.

I would love to be able to see my profile, friends tracker and results.

I agree with Ted here. The interface similar to facebook with status would be great. I would also like the ability to message via the app, access results, logs, etc. Another fun feature would be to throw down a challenge to your friends/rivals.

Absolutely. I'd download in a second without thought if it was available. I love to look up old stats after events and when talking with friends after runs. My iPhone is always in my car or on me. I regularly go to marathonguide.com - but it's not optimized for web browsing on mobile/handhelds. Too much to download if you're on cell service only and a lot of page zooming. These guys having negative comments certainly haven't experimented with the iphone applications that are out there. They're very handy, fast and useful if you know what to look for and hundreds of them available. More come on line everyday.

They range from Free to 10.00 at the top end. This would probably be in the 5.00 range if it gets you quick easy access to all the info available on this site.

You guys do know there a lot of iPhones out there that aren't on AT&T, right?

At the very least being able to search for people or events is a definite must.

I didn't read all the comments... so i apologize if it's mentioned. And it would require some integration and features for the site... but something to take advantage of the location features in iphone. find running routes nearby, or races nearby, or athletes nearby...

But a nice interface to see the race results would be good. Upload photos from your phone (via email would be ok to a la facebook).

But honestly... facebook mobile site (for iphone) is still better than the facebook iphone app... so I'd say make a solid mobile site...

Yeah... the facebook thing is pretty rad, so looking to that for inspiration wouldn't be so terrible. The ability to compare athletes' respective running resumes might be kinda cool. It's free to use / download...

Personally, I might be more inclined to log runs in an iphone based app than the web one I use right now, given that it's more convenient and all... especially if you could find a way to integrate gps and whatnot. (Let's face it, most of the running gps stuff for the iphone so far is kinda lacking...)

That's something I would pay for, certainly. A really good gps / run logging tool (with the option to do it either way, given that I don't usually run with my phone...)

Of course, I'd still like to see you guys create some kind of open api to some of this data...

If we could add a friend from mobile and merge the often mutiple names for each person, would be nice.

Ran a half marathon today and was very close to a PR, so I went on Athlinks from my iPhone to look up my race history. Stumbling through the full web page worked, but as an iphone application, this would've been much simpler I imagine. I look up data on myself and friends at every event. I use marathonguide.com, athlinks and then sometimes the sites themselves. As Athlinks has done a great job in becoming very complete in their results database - for the most part I go to athlinks first now. The IPhone Application or mobile application would certainly make this even more of a default of mine!

Ditto all the facebook stuff

Photo upload (with geotagging!) so I can upload pics from my phone or as I snap them and auto tag them with gps/location as well as add tags to associate them with athlinks events...

As with all iPhone applications, simplicity is the key. Don't just apply this concept to the look and feel, but more on the functionality. Stick to the core service Athlinks provides and do them well.

I just signed up on this site today, just because it had all my race information from way back 2005. That is cool. The training log is also cool.

So, if I were to take a stab at your iPhone application (by the way, I am currently building 2 for clients in the Philippines) I would make it a tab view based application.

The first tab, defaulting to the training log, allowing one to ad the status for the day - similar to facebook iphone Home tab. Unlike facebook though, I would focus this home log to personal information, and not include all the status for friends. This would allow us to use it trully as a log tool.

The second tab would probably be the profile tab, just because this seems to be standard in all social network iPhone apps. This would allow one to view and edit account information.

Third tab would be to see the logs of friends. This would be a navigation view listing first level the friends, drilling down to a second level of their recent tranning logs. Wouldn't put logs of friends listed in one big list, like other social networks.

Fourth tab would be local news in the area : relevant to work out conditions like weather, any athletic or related events, and health related articles.

Fifth, and final (iPhones can provide more, but it would be best to stick to the default max) would probably "mail." The messages exchange between users in the site.

I am looking forward to seeing and using your apps.

Other than I would have a tab for race history - the feature I like to use a lot for reference - I agree with Dondi. Simple - functional - sleek.

is there a way that we can upload data to WDYDT from a GPS accessory such as the garmin 305? it would be really convenient to just sync my workout to the website instead of doing the input manually...

I say where do I sign up for the iphone appt...

An iPhone app would be awesome. Keep it simple I say, at least to start with. Start with just Profile and Results. Then add Friends, Groups, and Rivals. Messages and WDYTD next would be the ultimate app for access on the go to update and reply.

As far as cost, I would be happy with a free lite version supported by ads and a pro version that costs up to USD4.99.

Easy access to my and my friends' race histories. A pace calculator would be cool, too.

Thanks!

Oh yeah, search for races, location-based as well as for a specified city and/or state.

realtime athlete tracking if offered by event. race results look-up. 'newsflashes' of winners & winning times from each weekend's big races. coupons/deals for athletic gear that we can use if we walk into a store right off our iphone. i would LOVE that, like a scan able barcode or something.

OH thought of one more idea! Would love to see who is going to races w/ their goal pace times... then have a way to 'find' them at the race with the GPS (if we agreed to run together).

OK last comment i swear. I really like Ken's idea of including a pace calculator. That is probably the most useful thing you could add above all else.

iphone version would be sweet! I have an Iphone. Facebook, USAToday and ESPN all have good iphone websites. Layout like theirs would be cool.

should be free. just a simple app to view profiles, updates, results, events, etc. improvements can be made later on. just need to get the app out there and have it critiqued. maybe even let some users beta test. im beta testing for iCall now. keep us updated.

an app that provides me a mini-snapshot of my profile page & the ability to search for impending races near my registered location

I would die for an app that lets me log my runs without using the battery draining gps. I would love to be able to access my run calander and be able to keep track of weekly mileage. Also being able to network like facebook would be wonderful! Maybe be able to track runners near you, and their info to help with matching potential running partners. Can't wait to see your app! Price isn't important if useful features are there. Remember, most of us distance runners are used to shelling out $100 a race + travelling/ lodging expences. We want apps that fit our lives. :-)

WDYDT update ability is the biggest thing. Keep it under $5.

Is this project (still?) alive?

I do hope this project is still alive...

Project is definitely still alive. We are working on some different integration that will make a lot of you VERY happy. More to follow soon.

How soon?

Being able to write daily posts and check messages in the app would be my main requests. Maybe push notification of messages? :) Looking forward to it!