Filed under: iPhone, App Store
AOL Daily Finance app raises the bar for iPhone investment tools
The Finance section of the App Store does feature some heavy-hitters (Bloomberg, ATM Hunter) and some fairly weak beer too. A lot of these apps are unitaskers, particularly when it comes to stock quotes and charting. For a full-featured and free investment information portal, and a strong competitor to the Bloomberg iPhone app, you may want to try the newly-released AOL Daily Finance, powered by the dailyfinance.com site.
The first key feature to note is the free real-time equity quote service, provided from the BATS Exchange; major exchange (NYSE & Nasdaq) quotes are delayed, though. You can quote individual symbols or watch your entire portfolio with ease, whether you enter it on the device or link to your existing lineup under your AOL or AIM screenname; up to 25 separate portfolios can be managed. You can also view up-to-the-minute financial and market news from the AP and other sources.
The other standout feature of this app is its comprehensive charting support. Clicking the chart button on an equity page brings up a straightforward chart, but rotate your device into landscape mode and you're in a Cover Flow-esque lineup of all the charts in your portfolio. Double-tap a chart to access a full suite of advanced comparison options (vs. markets, vs. peers, seasonality, showing events like earnings & splits, and custom symbol comparisons). Holding down a finger on a single-line chart enables a crosshair cursor that lets you see the specific data for any point on the chart. All the functions are intuitive and easy to use; the charts are cached so you can see most of your data even if your device is disconnected from WiFi or cell service.
If you're of a mind to keep an eye on the markets while you're on the move, you may find this app has the tools you're looking for. Check out the gallery below for a few screenshots.
Gallery: AOL Daily Finance for iPhone
Editor's Note: TUAW's parent company Weblogs, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of AOL.
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Alex Cross said 9:54AM on 4-17-2009
Slick app. It definitely avoids the one-trick pony routine so many apps lean towards. Instead it seems to be a one-stop shop. I'm actually impressed. And your spot on about the Charts. I wonder if they will grow that and add things like Technical Indicators for a stock and such. The timing also seems key to an attempt at an Apple design award.
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Josh said 10:12AM on 4-17-2009
Definately pretty nice. A lot quicker loading and refreshing than the Bloomberg app. Thanks for the tip.
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Colin ZeteBOy said 11:17AM on 4-17-2009
But its not in the Canadian Store???
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Drifter71 said 2:58PM on 4-17-2009
Nice Looking App. Now I just need to actually set up an AOL account. Not a big AOL fan...
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Dave said 7:40PM on 4-17-2009
"Not available in the UK store"
Guess it really is AMERICA On Line.
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justflybob said 12:48AM on 4-18-2009
Well, OK. It does things better than the Bloomberg app, but I still find it lacking in some areas. For example, once you get to a news article, you cannot view it in landscape. The articles are direct links to the respective site as well and they take FOREVER to load, even on WiFi.
Other parts of the app just seem unfinished.
For now, I'll still stick with the Bloomberg app, as it has what I need when I'm out of the office. I'll keep the new AOL one as well, and hope for some updates to make it more functional as a true investment tool.
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Edwin A said 4:52PM on 4-18-2009
On behalf of the team that built this, thanks for the kind words, TUAW. As far as being available in the foreign stores, we're working on it. At the moment, the app tracks stocks and indices in US markets, and I believe our real time feeds are licensed for the US, which is why we haven't made it available outside the US. But please keep the feedback coming at http://money.aol.com/iphone-feedback and let us know how we can do better.
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Jacob Welsh said 6:15PM on 4-19-2009
Edwin A. How do we rearrange our stocks in the watch list!?
Thanks
Jay Mullen said 5:25PM on 4-20-2009
@ Jacob --- It is in our next release as well as a number of improvements you the audience have asked for in the 3 short days we have been live. Thank you.
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peakes said 1:50PM on 4-26-2009
I find it really really offensive that this AOL owned blog would post a 'review' like this, giving a glowing recommendation to its own app. Ever since AOL acquired TUAW from weblogs inc., the quality and frequency of posts has fallen, and now I see it is little more than a PR mouthpiece for the corporate daddy.
This is how to destroy a good tech blog.
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Ian Roger said 11:53PM on 5-13-2009
This is a wonderful opinion. The things mentioned are unanimous and needs to be appreciated by everyone. The above thought is smart and doesn’t require any further addition. It’s perfect thought from my side.
Ian Roger
Real Estate
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NK said 7:49AM on 6-01-2009
Isn't this blog part of AOL. Can you really give an unbiased opinion? At least some disclosure in the text would be nice.
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stever said 10:57AM on 6-12-2009
Don't upgrade to v1.1
You'll loose all the work you put into setting up your portfolios.
Choosing any section on the my stocks tab crashes the app.
C'mon AOL. Can't you afford to test your updates?
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