The industry is buzzing about today’s announcement of a digital storefront for publishers (read the AdAge story here), but that’s not the only thing going on in the print-to-digital content world…
Conde Nast and Adobe are building a digital version of Wired magazine, according to the Wall Street Journal. The e-reader app will be available sometime next year, and then Conde Nast will move on to building apps for the rest of its titles. The app will let readers flip through the pages as if they were in print, as well as access additional layers of content, launch videos, and link to the Web. Read the Wall Street Journal Story here.
Meanwhile, Hearst is launching a service and online store in 2010 that will deliver newspapers and magazines from a variety of publishers on a variety of electronic devices. Called Skiff, the service will work with Sprint to connect readers through dedicated Skiff e-readers sold in Sprint stores, as well as other devices. Read the FOLIO story here.
Industry buzz apps, content, digital, e-readers, magazine, Wired
We can never resist a magazine or two when standing in the checkout line at Target. Now the retail chain is hoping to spawn similar magazine purchases online through a new digital magazine newsstand it has created in partnership with digital content provider Zinio. Target.com shoppers can order digital subscriptions, single copies, and archived copies of hundreds of magazines on the new co-branded, private-label newsstand site target.zinio.com. The digital copies can be read on the computer, or on e-readers or mobile phones.
But Target isn’t the only one venturing into digital newsstand technology. Time Inc. is said to be in talks with other publishers, such as Conde Nast and Hearst, on the creation of a digital newsstand that could become the “Hulu for glossies,” where magazine-like publications are delivered via e-readers. Time Inc.’s John Squires made the announcement at the Oct. 14 Magazine Innovation Summit. More details about the new venture, including a possible third-party that would act as the storefront, should be announced next month, with a launch date of 2010.
Industry buzz digital, e-readers, newsstand, Target, Time Inc.