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Earlier today the Breaking News Wire BNO News released their iPhone application, which uses the push technology of iPhone 3.0 to bring users the latest breaking news stories as soon as they happen. BNO News originally started as a breaking news account on Twitter (@BreakingNews), and has recently branched into FriendFeed and email services.

The application costs $1.99, with a $0.99 charge per month, after the first month which includes a month of notifications for free. Push notifications only includes major stories chosen by BNO News' editors by default, while the user has the option to be notified of minor stories as well. Users of the iPhone app can also choose to have a "sleep period", where push notifications will not be sent.

While there is a $0.99 charge per month for full notifications, the app is still fully usable without the recurring fee with a limit of one push notification per day, however full access to all BNO News reports is always available.

I have not yet had the chance to use the app, but will be getting a review copy soon and will post back next week with my thoughts on it. BNO News also says that versions for both BlackBerry and Android are being considered. The full press release by BNO News and BitMethod, the company who developed the application, is below.

BNO News and BitMethod release "breaking news" iPhone push application

(TILBURG, the Netherlands – Monday, August 03, 2009) – BNO News, in conjunction with BitMethod, today announced the release of an iPhone push application that will provide users the latest "breaking" news stories from the United States and around the world. The move to the iPhone market is another important milestone for BNO News, which is currently providing services on Twitter, FriendFeed and via e-mail. Combined, BNO News reaches nearly 1,000,000 people globally and is quickly growing on all platforms.

"Solid, innovative technologies such as the push notification service on the iPhone are enabling new ground breaking business models," said Daniel E. Shipton, BitMethod's Director of Business Development. "Our partnership with BNO News combines their rapid growing business and audience with our ability to expand their reach through new platforms like the iPhone."

The iPhone application will let users choose from several options to fit their needs, 24 hours per day and 7 days a week, no matter where they are. BNO News' iPhone application was released at midnight today and is now available in the iPhone App Store, at only $0.99 a month (after a download fee of $1.99).

BNO News' iPhone application is the number one choice for customers to stay informed of breaking and developing news stories "on-the-go." As our online-based news service has become known as a leader in breaking news, BNO News will have the advantage compared to other news-related applications. "Our decision to move to the iPhone market is only the first of several markets we intend to explore over the next year," said Michael van Poppel, founder of BNO News. "We are currently significantly expanding our original news reporting even further to provide our users with more in-depth content. We are excited to hear feedback from our iPhone customers, both positive as well as negative, so we can enhance our iPhone application further to provide an even better experience."

The iPhone application syncs user preferences via Wi-Fi or the user's cellular network and then downloads the latest news directly to the device. Users of the BNO News application are able to be notified of all our news updates or choose to only receive major news alerts. In any case, users are able to read back all the news updates in the application or suspend alerts for a certain period of time.

BNO News editors will be careful in the selection of news items, for both news streams, to ensure our users get what they ask for and trust us to do - enable them to stay "in the know" but without getting overwhelmed by news updates. "While BNO News has already seen extraordinary growth in the last few months, launching the BNO News iPhone application will enable us to provide our service to even more journalists, "news junkies" and anyone else who wants to stay informed," said Rodrigo Javier Aguiar, co-founder of BNO News. "We look forward continuing to work with BitMethod to explore other platforms to expand the reach of our services."

Updates to the iPhone application will become available over the next few weeks and BNO News is currently also considering an expansion to other mobile markets, such as the BlackBerry and Google's Android