The release of a free, open source official Wikipedia application for the Apple iPhone has been announced by the Wikimedia Foundation - the online user edited encyclopaedia. Similar to the Wikipedia - which reached 3-millionth article milestone on 17 August -, the iPhone app is also modifiable by any developer.

The new 1.6 MB Wikipedia app can be downloaded from the Apple App Store, and it is essentially aimed at the smartphone users, providing them with swift and trouble- free access to Wikipedia database's wide-ranging information, without even having to open a web browser.

Essentially a packaging of the mobile version of the online dictionary, the Wikipedia app - which features a singular visual format, facilitating the Apple smartphone users in reading the rather lengthy articles - is available at http://mobile.wikipedia.org/.

Noting that the Wikipedia app will allow developers worldwide to contribute towards its future improvement, Jay Walsh - spokesman fro the Wikimedia Foundation - said: "Our mission is to spread free knowledge; we want to do everything we can to meet and embrace that audience."

Talking about the future prospects of the new app, Walsh said: "Everybody recognizes with the growth of mobile tools globally that this is how people access information. It is a platform we are going to build on. The sky is the limit; we can do whatever we want!"