The Weather Channel Launches All-New Interactive 3D App for iPad

ATLANTA, Oct. 20, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The Weather Channel® (TWC), together with presenting launch sponsor Westin Hotels & Resorts, is proud to reveal an all-new redesign of its popular The Weather Channel for iPad App, offering consumers a stunning new perspective to discover, interact and share the weather and news happening at their doorstep and around the world. The revamped, easy-to-use interface goes beyond forecasts to tell the weather story and its impact on consumers' daily lives through immersive visualization, an interactive 3D globe with spinning map view, an integrated news and social tab, weather-triggered background images and more.

"In the age of the interactive social experience, we know weather information needs to be visual, accurate and at your fingertips. Part of the success of our iPad app has been our ability to listen to consumer feedback for ideas on how to improve, and we have learned a lot since it first launched with the original iPad," said Cameron Clayton, executive vice president of digital product at The Weather Channel Companies. "This was an opportunity to create a better product that's all about the consumer and gives them the opportunity to truly explore and share."

The Weather Channel for iPad App brings together the best of TWC on mobile with the best of TWC on television to give consumers customized weather information at the tap of a finger for up to 10 saved locations. New features include:

• Weather-triggered background images on the home screen change to match local conditions, with 3D animated backgrounds available on iPad 2 devices.
• An immersive weather forecast screen displays current conditions, a 10-day forecast, and expandable hourly forecasts in 15-minute TruPoint(SM) increments for deeper engagement.
• An interactive 3D spinning globe view to spin, pinch and zoom for weather. A satellite map shows pinpointed favorite locations, geo-tagged iWitness photos and more.
• A news mash-up of the latest weather news articles from TWC, user-submitted iWitness Weather photos, and Twitter feeds from TWC meteorologists and severe weather experts.
• Social integration allows consumers to "Share" weather conditions via email, Twitter or Facebook; post a Tweet or upload iWitness photos and video directly from the iPad camera.
• HD-quality video of top news, weather forecasts, featured videos and original TV clips

The new app offers functionality from the original app, such as an extensive index of advanced interactive weather maps with local points of interest and customizable animated weather layers such as radar, clouds, UV index, rainfall, snowfall and more. Consumers can still depend on severe weather alerts with Push notifications and GPS "Find me" availability for weather conditions.

Westin Hotels & Resorts is the presenting sponsor of the new The Weather Channel for iPad App, running a rich media campaign that allows consumers to "Wipe Away Your Weather." The innovative campaign targets consumers based on location and current weather conditions. For example, consumers in a snowy location will see their screen fill up with snow and can then "wipe away" that snow to reveal a warmer, tropical Westin resort destination, interact with the property, learn about other Westin Hotels & Resorts destinations, and share the experience via Facebook, Twitter and email. The campaign, created with creative agency Bartle Bogle Hegarty, digital agency Razorfish and rich media vendor Celtra, will run on multiple TWC platforms.

For a video demo of the new app, visit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnXSTSbBpco. The Weather Channel for iPad App is available for free from the App Store on iPad or at http://www.itunes.com/appstore.

About The Weather Channel Companies

The Weather Channel companies (TWCC) are made up of The Weather Channel® television network, The Weather Channel digital properties, and WSI.  The Weather Channel is based in Atlanta and is seen in more than 100 million U.S. households.  TWCC also operates Weatherscan®, a 24-hour all-local weather network; The Weather Channel Radio Network; and The Weather Channel HD.  The most popular source of weather news and information, TWCC properties reach 60 million monthly Web consumers (weather.com and Desktop) and 32 million monthly mobile users (mobile Web and applications) and offers the second most popular mobile app on all smart phones. WSI, headquartered in Andover, MA, primarily provides business-to-business weather services, particularly for the media, aviation, marine and energy sectors. TWCC is owned by a consortium made up of NBC Universal and the private equity firms The Blackstone Group and Bain Capital. For more information, visit www.weather.com/press.

About Westin Hotels & Resorts

Westin Hotels & Resorts makes the healthiest choices irresistibly appealing, so guests leave feeling better than when they arrived.  With more than 180 hotels and resorts in over 36 countries and territories, Westin is owned by Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. Starwood Hotels is one of the leading hotel and leisure companies in the world with 1,058 properties in 100 countries and territories with 145,000 employees at its owned and managed properties. Starwood Hotels is a fully integrated owner, operator and franchisor of hotels, resorts and residences with the following internationally renowned brands: St. Regis®, The Luxury Collection®, W®, Westin®, Le Meridien®, Sheraton®, Four Points® by Sheraton, and the recently launched Aloft®, and Element SM.  The company boasts one of the industry's leading loyalty programs, Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG), allowing members to earn and redeem points for room stays, room upgrades and flights, with no blackout dates.  Starwood Hotels also owns Starwood Vacation Ownership, Inc., one of the premier developers and operators of high quality vacation interval ownership resorts. For more information, please visit www.starwoodhotels.com.

SOURCE The Weather Channel