Forbes Magazine named the Pizza Hut iPhone App the No.1 Branded Mobile Application of 2009 in an article released this week. Already recognized as the first national pizza chain to release an ordering App and an iTunes Lifestyle category leader, the App has demonstrated its innovation and wide consumer appeal.

“It is very exciting to be receiving such high accolades surrounding the Pizza Hut App,” said Bernard Acoca, Senior Director of Digital Marketing. “It’s great that the Pizza Hut App is standing out among other branded applications and providing consumers with an entertaining and engaging ordering experience that delivers results.”

In 2009, the Pizza Hut iPhone App also was named the winner of two MMA awards for Best Mobile Display Campaign and Best Emerging Technology Campaign in North America, as well as an OMMA award, and a finalist for one MOBI award. Since its release in July, the App has brought in more than $1,000,000 in Pizza Hut sales and garnered close to 1,000,000 downloads.

The App is a convenient and engaging way to order your favorite pizza, pasta and wings from Pizza Hut. It uses innovative iPhone and iPod touch features including the Multi-touch user interface and accelerometer to make ordering each individual menu item a fun and customized experience:

• When ordering pizzas, users virtually build their own pizza by choosing a type of crust in the scroll wheel, “pinching” to select size, and dragging-and-dropping toppings onto the pizza, all with visual confirmation. If an overeager pizza customer adds too many toppings, the pizza explodes and toppings go flying across the screen with an alert to make their pizza happier with fewer toppings.
• The section used to order WingStreet(R) wings starts with a bowl of wings that changes as users choose the type of wings they want. Next they select a sauce and are prompted to “sauce their wings” by shaking their iPhone or iPod touch until the wings are covered. Shake too long and the sauce flies across the screen. As with the pizza ordering, customers finish with a representation of the wings order.
• The App has a virtual waiter on call to take your Tuscani Pastas order. You can select from four delicious varieties including Meaty Marinara, Creamy Chicken Alfredo, Premium Bacon Mac ‘N Cheese and Lasagna.

Pizza Hut also has given consumers a way to pass the time as they wait for their order with a game called Pizza Hut Racer, in which users are challenged to deliver a pizza quickly while avoiding obstacles in the road. The pizza delivery car speeds up or slows down depending upon the angle of the device, and vibrations and beeps alert users when the driver hits the curb or runs into obstacles. Each time a user orders using the App they get 20% their entire Pizza Hut order.

The Pizza Hut App is available from the App Store on the iPhone and iPod touch or at itunes.com/appstore/, and a video demoing the application’s features and functionality can be found at www.pizzahut.com/iphone. For more information on Pizza Hut, log on to pizzahut.com, or interact with Pizza Hut at facebook.com/pizzahut and twitter.com/pizzahut.

About Pizza Hut

Pizza Hut, America’s Favorite Pizza, delivers more pizza, pasta and wings than any other restaurant. The only pizza company to be named a top ten franchise in 2009 by Entrepreneur Magazine, Pizza Hut began 50 years ago in Wichita, Kansas and today operates more than 10,000 restaurants in more than 90 countries. Pizza Hut, Inc. is a subsidiary of Yum! Brands, Inc. ( YUM). To check out what’s new at Pizza Hut visit pizzahut.com.