The app is free, and we're impressed by how elegant and simple the design is. There's nothing at all revolutionary here, but organizations both public and private often release poorly designed iPhone apps. If you're a U.S. citizen, you probably won't feel that your tax dollars were wasted developing this thing, assuming you think an iPhone app is worth the effort and investment to begin with.
If the intention is to keep citizens engaged, the app will do as good a job as you can expect. It mostly features content from the already impressive whitehouse.gov: all the blog posts, newsroom items, photos and videos of everything from Press Secretary Robert Gibbs's press briefings to Obama's appearances and government PSAs.
The live video feature isn't just reserved for major events. At present, the listed current and upcoming streams include President Obama's January 22nd town hall meeting in Ohio, his National Mentoring Month speech, a meeting between the First Lady and White House tour visitors, a Gibbs press briefing, an education Q&A with Domestic Policy Advisor Melody Barnes, and, of course, the State of the Union address on the 27th.
You could previously watch some events on sites like Ustream. You still can, we're sure, but this administration has put some effort into engaging users of social media and technology. Obama just posted his first tweet, actually.