Oprah Winfrey announced the launch of Oprah Mobile this week, a smartphone app that includes content from the talkshow host's TV and radio shows, O Magazine and affiliated websites. Oprah Mobile is a $1.99 app that offers "helpful advice" on a variety of topics including "spirit, health, beauty, cooking" and more.

As Jason Ankeny writes over at FierceMobileContent, the importance of Oprah Mobile could be tremendous:

"Oprah is unique--more a spiritual leader than a media magnate, her influence on her fanbase is incalculable, and if she tells her audience to download her app, they will listen. For viewers who've previously relied on their handsets exclusively to make calls and send text messages, Oprah Mobile could be the application that redefines their user experience."

What's more, Oprah Mobile is in part an application that delivers advice for healthy living. The app's description begins: "Live your best life wherever you go!" That certainly captures the spirit of the opportunity for mHealth services.

While the app is currently only available for smartphones, including iPhone, BlackBerry, Android, and Palm devices, Oprah's production company Harpo and its mobile app partner Hands-On Mobile plan to roll out a feature phone version of the application soon. That is, after all, where the largest audience is: A recent survey from IDC found that some 83 percent of American mobile users use feature phones.

Sure, Oprah Mobile could be the first mobile app Oprah's audience adopts, and it could drive interest within her fanbase to make the jump from feature phones to smartphones. Whatever the case may be, Oprah Mobile is sure to move the needle on sales of health-related mobile content. Its advent is a good thing for the budding mobile health industry.

For more on Jason Ankeny's analysis of Oprah Mobile in the context of the wider mobile content industry, read more here.
For more about Oprah Mobile, read the app's description below:

"Live your best life wherever you go! With the Oprah Mobile app, your favorite experts, inspirational photos and videos and riveting stories are just a click away. Stay in touch with the latest from The Oprah Winfrey Show, including instant alerts when audience reservations are available. Plus, find helpful advice on spirit, health, beauty, cooking, money, decorating, relationships and more from The Oprah Winfrey Show, O, The Oprah Magazine, Oprah Radio and Oprah.com."