First of all, I'm not sure if this is the proper section. I thought it fit best here, but if not, please move it mods.

I want to create a Woot app similar to Woot Watch on the iPhone (and Woot Checker on the Android). I have some pretty cool ideas on implementation and on the feature set I want it to have, but am lost on where to get started.

What is the best way for an app like this to function? I was looking into converting the page source into XML then using an XML parser to put the data into the UI I design. Is that reasonable or do apps that monitor web pages use some other functionality to get the data to the user?

Basically I am just wanting to get pointed in the right direction for implementation so I can teach myself the rest. I am quite new to coding, but am willing to put in the time to learn. Hopefully my questions weren't too vague. Thanks in advance for any help provided.