Amid all the buzz about the potential to make money from mobile news, news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP) has become the latest news organisation to launch an iPhone app.

The application also works on the iPod Touch and costs $1.99 from the Apple store.

"It gives access to the global news agency's multimedia content in English, Spanish, Portuguese and German, including breaking world news from wars and conflicts to politics, sport and entertainment, as well as the latest major developments in health, science and technology," AFP said in a statement.

The application also allows clients of the news agency to adapt it for their own use. Customers can then use it to distribute their own content, under their own masthead. French news organisation La Dépêche du Midi has just done so, launching a free app which contains its own news articles as well as video from AFP.

This is part of a strategy to cover all mobile news needs, AFP said.

"We believe that it is our mission to offer our clients mobile-ready content and technological solutions, so they can expand their visibility and reach new audiences," AFP sales and marketing director Erik Monjalous said.

Mobile news may be an important future source of revenue for news publishers. The Guardian has launched a paid app which, if downloads at the present rate continued, would make almost £2 million a year. The mobile offerings of French sports newspaper L'Equipe are profitable as well.

Another news agency, the Associated Press (AP), recently deflected criticism that it bypasses its paying members, the media organisations, by using new media to distribute news directly to readers. Is this application a way for AFP to keep both members and readers happy?

Sources: AFP, Journalism.co.uk, La Dépêche