Orange County Register

Maybe it’s because I have a scratchy throat today and a few random sniffles, but the news from Zicam Cold Remedy caught my eye.

Matrixx Initiatives Inc., which makes Zicam, launched the Zicam Cold & Flu Companion mobile application today for the T-Mobile G1, better known as the first Google phone. An iPhone version will be out within the next few weeks at the Apple App store.

With this software, users can check cold and flu activity by zip code. This was inspired by Google, which launched “Flu Trends” on Nov. 11. Flu Trends can estimate flu activity by region. Google gets its data from weekly and historical Center for Disease Control reports plus it own database tracking the number of flu-related searches users type in.

The Zicam tool shows the percentage of sick people in a zip code, symptoms to look for and the latest flu news.  And since this is free (read: marketing tool), the app offers coupons and addresses of nearby stores that sell Zicam products.

To learn more about the app, visit zicam.com/tools/mobile.

Of course if you don’t have an iPhone or G1, you can still track the flu around you at Zicam’s site HERE. Or, download the flu widget to your computer. (Oh snap! Flu levels are moderate here in Santa Ana.)

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