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Digital Reading Now Easier!
The next installment of Apple’s mobile operating system iOS5 will see an addition to its collection of apps that come pre-installed on their devices. The application known as Newsstand allows users to make it even easier to search for and access digital publications such as magazine and newspapers. Digital versions of popular magazines have previously be available to iOS users for download and viewing through an application developed by the publisher or distributed by applications that aggregate digital content from a range of different publishers.
The Australian magazine distributor MagShop is one such company that display and sell digital content for publishers for iOS and Android devices. Newsstand is very similar to Apple’s existing application known as the iBook app which users can use to purchase and view their Apple ibook via a digital bookshelf.
The Newsstand app gives users the opportunity to search for and purchase new subscriptions through the designated Newsstand store. Apple has included the push notification system with Newsstand so that users will be notified of a new edition from their subscription when it becomes available.
Newsstand can automatically download the digital content straight to the Newsstand application while other applications are being used along with the publication’s cover artwork ready for them to view at their leisure. Apple describes Newsstand in their iOS5 press release as “…kind of like having the paper delivered to your front door. Only better.”
At present iOS users have the option to view a digital version of their favourite magazines in an interactive form. The National Geographic magazine available for iOS successfully adds to a reader’s experience by embedding web links and videos within the digital magazine.
All of the magazine’s content is still included as if reading the physical form, the only difference being that the reader is interacting with it like an iOS application. The stunning photographs National Geographic are renowned for are enhanced when viewed on Apple’s iPad providing a pleasurable user experience. Customers have an alternative means of accessing their favourite publications that can be more environmentally friendly and available on demand via their mobile devices.
Melbourne Publishers are Looking to the iPad!
Newsstand will allow users to compile their current subscriptions outside the many magazine or newspaper apps already available to the iPad and iPhone. The current distribution method available to magazine and newspaper publishers are individually developed apps that deliver an individual publication. An example is Melbourne newspaper The Age that have developed an application to deliver their content daily in a digital format.
Wired magazine, Science Illustrated and Popular Science all deliver their content through their own individual applications. Melbourne based publisher The Monthly also developed their own application to display content for mobile devices.
Mobile apps that provide users with a wide variety of magazine and comic book subscriptions like Zinio and ComiXology respectively aggregate publications from within their own apps and users are able to read their content between mobile devices. DC Comics’ recent push to provide their readers with same-day digital copies of their favourite comics shows how publishers are committed to distributing their products without delays in interactive digital formats.
Adobe announced earlier this month that that they would be supporting Apple’s Newsstand in the new iOS. Adobe’s Digital Publishing Suite will be free to create applications that can output files that can automatically download to Apple’s Newsstand. Adobe believe that Newsstand-enabled apps will lead to “…greater content discover-ability and increased subscription sales and advertising revenue.” Publishers will have access to the new Newsstand-enabled features shortly after the release of iOS 5.
This development will allow publishers to take advantage of an improved distribution channel for digital publications which would add value to existing products and allow increased access to their customers. It will help them display their titles so that they are easy to search for and provide ease of use similar to the already successful iBookstore. Users will benefit from a seamless experience as they find and read their favorite magazines far easier than before.