Sports Illustrated Snapshot App Arrives in Google Chrome Web Store

Today we’re introducing Sports Illustrated Snapshot, a customizable app that delivers the best of sports through the lenses of Sports Illustrated photographers.  It was designed for Google’s Chrome browser and can be downloaded from the new Google Chrome Web Store, which was also unveiled today.

For more than 50 years Sports Illustrated photography has given fans the most iconic sports images, from Muhammad Ali standing over Sonny Liston and “The Catch” by 49er Dwight Clark to the U.S. Hockey team’s “Miracle on Ice” and Drew Brees lifting his son in victory at last year’s Super Bowl.

Now, Sports Illustrated’s photo editors will edit and caption the best photos of the day every day for Snapshot’s multiple channels. It starts every morning with 10 eye-popping images in Photos of the Day—modeled after the magazine’s popular Leading Off section.
Snapshot brings this storytelling to a customizable app. Users can also organize their sports in My SI, by sport and team (aggregating news and scores) and by location in a Local channel.

The app employs a “freemium” model.  The Extras channel will offer rare, curated images from the Sports Illustrated archive; comprehensive photo coverage of major events, such as the Super Bowl; and special picture sets from SI Swimsuit. At launch Swimsuit Body Painting Editor’s Cut and The Year in Sports Photos will be available for $.99 each. Like many other exclusive essays coming soon, the photo collection from this year’s Super Bowl, When the Saints Came Marching In, is free.
Just as we’ve seen with our iPad app, advertising in these new digital environments can be so enriched it will become content itself. The advertising experience in Snapshot is equally seamless. Snapshot launch sponsors are Lexus, Toyota and Courtyard by Marriott.

Sports Illustrated Snapshot is built in HTML5 to be searchable, shareable and immediately accessible in the Chrome browser, reflecting the vision Sports Illustrated set forth at the Google I/O conference last spring. Working with us on this project is the innovative San Francisco-based developer Hitpost.

As you see it today, Sports Illustrated Snapshot is a beta release and you may experience some quirks. We are working on new features, channels and products to introduce in the coming weeks.

Go to the Chrome Web Store to download Snapshot and let us know what you think (siletters@simail.com).

Terry