Category: Sports
Price: FREE
TiP Rating: 2/5 stars
Release Date: 06/03/2010
Version: 2.0
Seller: Pareira and O’Dell
Rated: 4+
Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. Requires OS 3.0 or later.

Link to app (clicking launches iTunes)

App Store Description: Can’t make it to South Africa for the World Cup? Bring the thrill of the stadium straight to your living room with Pocket Vuvuzela app for iPhone.

Summary: Pocket Vuvuzela is another example of someone trying to capitalize on the World Cup hype, with the real deal being so popular in South Africa why not try to bring it to the masses overseas? Not a great app, but at least you get to join in with the crowd.

Review: Soccer (football to the rest of the world) fan or not, it’s difficult not to get caught up in the sheer excitement of the World Cup. The promos on ESPN are quite simply inspiring, and the magnitude and meaning of this event to the world and its people cannot be denied. The passion of football fans around the world can be seen and heard at every match through chanting, singing, and enthusiasm.

However…

I recently saw a feature about sales of merchandise at the Cup. The usual suspects are all there: soccer balls, uniforms, and flags. There are two on the list that have not been seen at any World Cup, and, hopefully, will not be at any World Cup. One is earplugs. The other is the direct cause of these…

Vuvuzelas. “What are vuvuzelas?” you ask? They are essentially giant horns which, as far as I can tell, play exactly one note at one pitch. Constantly. They are traditional South African instruments, which is great, but not when they sound like a huuuge swarm of bees buzzing around the soccer pitch. At every single match. Every. Single. One.

Thankfully(?) Pocketvuvuzela has been created to bring that World Cup experience to your living room or your favorite local pub. You can customize your own vuvuzela with one of 32 options of country colors, and strangely, different sounds can be played through the instrument, seemingly unlike the real deal in South Africa.

But let’s be honest here, it’s all about that sound (noise?). Push down on the horn, and it adds a channel of vuvuzela to your home theater setup. Who knows… if you play it loud enough and long enough, FIFA might actually listen and reverse the (appalling, horrible, incomprehensible) disallowed U.S. goal. One can only hope.