MILLINOCKET, Maine — When people look to tick off items on their bucket lists, Anita Mueller hopes they will use the Discover Katahdin phone application to find the special things they want to do. So does Michael Seile.
Mueller and the Katahdin Area Chamber of Commerce launched the free download via the App Store and Google Play on Sunday and it had drawn 159 downloads as of 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday — a good number given the effort’s lack of publicity, Mueller said.
“I am hoping that it will serve as an economic development tool,” Mueller said Wednesday.
The photographer, gift shop owner and former Town Council member had worked since October developing the application. It is primarily geared toward tourists, she said, but it also features wood products industry manufacturers like Millinocket Fabrication and Machine Inc. and Maine Heritage Timber. In-Home Care Personal Services and an insurance company, FA Peabody Co., are also featured.
Katahdin Kritters Pet Resort owner Michael Seile expressed satisfaction with the finished product, which is 33.55 megabytes.
“This is the vehicle [cellphones] that people are using now to do everything, find everything. This is an app generation,” said Seile, whose East Millinocket-based business is featured among the business entries.
Mueller said she will be uploading tweaks to the original design, and correcting a few misspellings, in the next few days. Businesses that want to be listed on the app must be chamber members and must pay a $50 annual fee for a listing. Any business interested in having a business listed in the application should call the chamber at 723-4443.
Chamber members, Executive Director Jean Boddy said, hope the app will lead to an increase in visitors to the Katahdin region and in the membership of their organization, which represents 143 businesses.
The chamber over the last several years has worked to expand itself beyond its traditional boundaries of East Millinocket, Medway and Millinocket and unincorporated areas outside of those towns. It now includes businesses in and around municipalities such as Patten, Sherman and Ashland, Boddy has said.