First time for everything: Mitt Romney to announce running mate exclusively on mobile app

U.S. Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney has made the historic decision to announce his running mate for the 2012 election via a mobile app called "Mitt's VP." The application is available for iOS and Android, and requires users to have a "MyMitt" account on the candidate's personal website.

When Romney's vice president is chosen, users of the app will be pushed a notification "before the press and just about everyone else (except maybe Ann)."

The move to release this information only to mobile app users provides a unique incentive for anyone, even those not interested in voting for the Republican candidate, to sign up.

It is the first time a discrete platform app has been chosen for a major announcement like this, and it defies the recent trend of making major election announcements on Twitter. Newt Gingrich, for example, announced his candidacy via the microblogging site, and President Obama has hosted a number of Twitter "town hall" meetings on the service and kept a relatively active presence there.

Romney's new app will actually be the candidate's second attempt at breaking into mobile applications and an attempt to overshadow the major blunder of his "With Mitt" app, released in May. That app, among its various graphics, included one that simply said "A Better Amercia," misspelling The United States' own name.

Not to be outdone, the Democratic Party rolled out a new iOS-exclusive app for the Obama Campaign today as well. This particular app features tools to find local volunteer events, get lists of voters, and access all the campaign information.

"This app isn’t about being flashy—it’s about giving you the tools you need to make the biggest possible difference between now and Election Day," The Obama campaign said on Tuesday.