Zinio, the digital magazine service, comes out on top among free iPhone apps
Zinio, the company that provides digital versions of magazines, has turned out to be the number one free news application on the new Apple iPad, according to a story on MediaDailyNews. It had fifth place overall among iPad apps, behind Netflix.
According to the story, about 500,000 to 600,000 iPads had been sold in the U.S. by the end of last week. Canadian sales are expected to begin soon.
Like other digital publishers, Zinio has rushed to capitalize on the wave of interest in Apple's new tablet-style computer, touted by the manufacturer as a superior device for media consumption, thanks to its large color display and easy interface.Zinio is now partnering with Magazines Canada on its Digital Newsstand, which has more than 100 Canadian magazine titles on board.
Magazine publishers have been especially keen to distribute digital editions via the iPad. Conde Nast, Hearst, Time Inc. and Meredith Corp. have teamed up to create a common digital storefront for magazines in anticipation of more reading over digital devices like the iPad.
According to the story, about 500,000 to 600,000 iPads had been sold in the U.S. by the end of last week. Canadian sales are expected to begin soon.
Labels: web and print
posted by D. B. Scott at
2:03 pm
3 Comments:
Zinio's iPhone app is pretty terrible, it takes too long to load. The interface doesn't fit the iPhone screen and looks like a digital edition squished onto a tiny two inch iPhone screen. There are too many different "modes" to read content which makes it more confusing and longer to load.
I think Zinio and other digital companies learn to adapt to these new platforms and not just copy paste their current content into the new ones, which is clearly not working...
Also, just because the Zinio app is in the "top 10" doesnt mean its good. Check out the rating for Zinio iPhone app, its 2/5. Unlike the NY Times who are doing it right with 4/5 rating
Kristin - agreed. I find Zinio very clunky and awkward (and that's just on a desktop). But I've seen some other platforms and they're even worse. The new Friday Night magazine uses one that, among other things, intalls software on your computer when you click on the download option, which I did b/c I was having so much trouble reading it online, that I thought I would download in hopes of getting a PDF. Can't remember the company they use.
So really, Zinio is just the best of a bad bunch. My fingers are crossed for the new Adobe platforms - they've already proven time and again that they understand what both publishers (InDesign) and readers (PDFs) need.
The Zinio solution has slow download speeds and it is hard to naviagte through the magazine which is a no no in today's web development best practices.It is a recipe to irritate and repel online readers.
It is also a flash based technology and Apple does not support flash and that is why you need a application to read it. You will not be able to read it on any browser. Flash is not a technology that I will bet a magazine's long term business model on.
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