Bonnier's Popular Science+ Debuts on iPad as the Magazine of Tomorrow
Poster: SySAdmin
Posted on April 2, 2010 at 9:07:01 AM
Bonnier's Popular Science+ Debuts on iPad as the Magazine of Tomorrow
NEW YORK, April 2 -- Bonnier Corp.'s Popular Science today launches its Popular Science+ tablet edition to run on Apple's iPad. Available now in the App Store, Popular Science+ is an achievement in digital magazine reading that began months ago in a collaboration between Bonnier's global R&D task force and BERG, a London-based design firm. The resulting platform, called Mag+, is the first step toward a vision of what digital magazine reading can be. (See the video demo at popularscienceplus.com.)
(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20100402/NY80771 )
"The key quality of Popular Science+ is that it's truly a magazine, but redesigned and redeveloped in a way that makes it work seamlessly and beautifully on the iPad," says Mark Jannot, editor in chief of Popular Science. "Our goal was to preserve all the qualities that make magazines such a powerful, popular medium--inspired packaging of carefully curated content by a team of expert editors, delivered in a visually dazzling issue with a beginning, middle and end--and at the same time to reinvent it in a way that makes it come to life on the iPad's screen."
The Mag+ platform will be continually developed and upgraded over the coming months as more and more of Bonnier's nearly 50 U.S. magazines (and many more in Europe) are rolled out on the iPad and other tablets. "Mag+ allows magazines to do what they do best, but on another platform," says Sara Ohrvall, senior vice president of research and development for Bonnier. "We don't want readers to feel like they're working through the screen, or layers of buttons. It should feel like they're touching the actual product, using a natural and intuitive interface."
The six design principles that underlie the Mag+ digital platform are:
-- SILENT MODE. Magazines are a luxury that readers can lose themselves
in. Mag+ has fewer distractions than the Web. It allows readers to
lean back, away from the browser, and just focus on the bold images
and rich storytelling. Reduced complexity increases a reader's
immersion.
-- FLUID MOTION. Magazines are easy to browse, and Mag+ replicates that
with a story-to-story navigation that's more like a panning camera
than a flipping page. As we say, "Flow is the new flip."
-- DESIGNED PAGES. Magazines are defined by their carefully conceived
layouts that give readers an immediate understanding of the content
and why it matters to them, a quality that got lost on magazine Web
sites. Mag+ brings design back to digital publishing.
-- DEFINED BEGINNING AND END. Unlike the Web, magazines have a defined
storyline and flow from front to back. Mag+ returns to the notion that
something can be, and wants to be, completed. It's the end of
endlessness.
-- ISSUE-BASED DELIVERY. One of the great joys of magazines is that
feeling of anticipation when a new one arrives. Mag+ maintains that by
delivering full issues at once with all the same content as the print
edition, and on the same schedule.
-- ADVERTISING AS CONTENT. Relevant, attractive advertising is as much a
part of the magazine experience as the editorial content, and Bonnier
wants Mag+ advertising to include both pin-ups and applications
readers can appreciate.
Popular Science+ on the iPad features pages that are easy to browse and to read, allowing users to enjoy the full-color diagrams, images and in-depth reporting Popular Science is famous for. Simple, fluid swiping motions let readers move horizontally through stories, while vertical scrolling allows them to read an article without interruption or distraction. In the app's unique Look mode, users can tap the screen to make the words disappear, highlighting the magazine's big, bold photos and illustrations. (Another tap returns to Read mode.) Popular Science+ includes the April issue plus a storefront to buy future issues every month from within the app and a library to manage back issues.
In a future release of the app, users will be able to activate a Heated mode that will let them select text to e-mail, Tweet, post to Facebook or save in a scrapbook. Subscriptions will also be coming to Popular Science+ and other magazines on the Mag+ platform in the next two months.
Founded in 1872, Popular Science (http://www.popsci.com) is the world's largest science and technology magazine, with a circulation of 1.3 million and 7.1 million readers. Bonnier Corporation (http://www.bonniercorp.com), one of the largest consumer-publishing groups in the U.S., is the leading media company serving passionate, highly engaged audiences through magazines, events, digital media and leading-edge products. Bonnier Corp. is the U.S. division of the Bonnier Group, (http://www.bonnier.com), an international media group active in television, newspapers, magazines, movies and cinemas, books and digital media. Based in the Nordic region with substantial operations in the U.S., Germany, the U.K. and Eastern Europe, Bonnier has businesses in 16 countries worldwide and employ over 10,000 people. Bonnier stands for entrepreneurship and has always combined a genuine commitment to freedom of speech with a sense for business. Bonnier is wholly owned by the Bonnier family, which has been running the company for seven generations.
Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20100402/NY80771
PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com
Source: Bonnier Corp.
CONTACT: Amanda McNally, +1-212-779-5527,
amanda.mcnally@bonniercorp.com, or Dean Turcol, +1-212-219-7434,
dean.turcol@bonniercorp.com
Web Site: http://www.bonniercorp.com/
NEW YORK, April 2 -- Bonnier Corp.'s Popular Science today launches its Popular Science+ tablet edition to run on Apple's iPad. Available now in the App Store, Popular Science+ is an achievement in digital magazine reading that began months ago in a collaboration between Bonnier's global R&D task force and BERG, a London-based design firm. The resulting platform, called Mag+, is the first step toward a vision of what digital magazine reading can be. (See the video demo at popularscienceplus.com.)
(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20100402/NY80771 )
"The key quality of Popular Science+ is that it's truly a magazine, but redesigned and redeveloped in a way that makes it work seamlessly and beautifully on the iPad," says Mark Jannot, editor in chief of Popular Science. "Our goal was to preserve all the qualities that make magazines such a powerful, popular medium--inspired packaging of carefully curated content by a team of expert editors, delivered in a visually dazzling issue with a beginning, middle and end--and at the same time to reinvent it in a way that makes it come to life on the iPad's screen."
The Mag+ platform will be continually developed and upgraded over the coming months as more and more of Bonnier's nearly 50 U.S. magazines (and many more in Europe) are rolled out on the iPad and other tablets. "Mag+ allows magazines to do what they do best, but on another platform," says Sara Ohrvall, senior vice president of research and development for Bonnier. "We don't want readers to feel like they're working through the screen, or layers of buttons. It should feel like they're touching the actual product, using a natural and intuitive interface."
The six design principles that underlie the Mag+ digital platform are:
-- SILENT MODE. Magazines are a luxury that readers can lose themselves
in. Mag+ has fewer distractions than the Web. It allows readers to
lean back, away from the browser, and just focus on the bold images
and rich storytelling. Reduced complexity increases a reader's
immersion.
-- FLUID MOTION. Magazines are easy to browse, and Mag+ replicates that
with a story-to-story navigation that's more like a panning camera
than a flipping page. As we say, "Flow is the new flip."
-- DESIGNED PAGES. Magazines are defined by their carefully conceived
layouts that give readers an immediate understanding of the content
and why it matters to them, a quality that got lost on magazine Web
sites. Mag+ brings design back to digital publishing.
-- DEFINED BEGINNING AND END. Unlike the Web, magazines have a defined
storyline and flow from front to back. Mag+ returns to the notion that
something can be, and wants to be, completed. It's the end of
endlessness.
-- ISSUE-BASED DELIVERY. One of the great joys of magazines is that
feeling of anticipation when a new one arrives. Mag+ maintains that by
delivering full issues at once with all the same content as the print
edition, and on the same schedule.
-- ADVERTISING AS CONTENT. Relevant, attractive advertising is as much a
part of the magazine experience as the editorial content, and Bonnier
wants Mag+ advertising to include both pin-ups and applications
readers can appreciate.
Popular Science+ on the iPad features pages that are easy to browse and to read, allowing users to enjoy the full-color diagrams, images and in-depth reporting Popular Science is famous for. Simple, fluid swiping motions let readers move horizontally through stories, while vertical scrolling allows them to read an article without interruption or distraction. In the app's unique Look mode, users can tap the screen to make the words disappear, highlighting the magazine's big, bold photos and illustrations. (Another tap returns to Read mode.) Popular Science+ includes the April issue plus a storefront to buy future issues every month from within the app and a library to manage back issues.
In a future release of the app, users will be able to activate a Heated mode that will let them select text to e-mail, Tweet, post to Facebook or save in a scrapbook. Subscriptions will also be coming to Popular Science+ and other magazines on the Mag+ platform in the next two months.
Founded in 1872, Popular Science (http://www.popsci.com) is the world's largest science and technology magazine, with a circulation of 1.3 million and 7.1 million readers. Bonnier Corporation (http://www.bonniercorp.com), one of the largest consumer-publishing groups in the U.S., is the leading media company serving passionate, highly engaged audiences through magazines, events, digital media and leading-edge products. Bonnier Corp. is the U.S. division of the Bonnier Group, (http://www.bonnier.com), an international media group active in television, newspapers, magazines, movies and cinemas, books and digital media. Based in the Nordic region with substantial operations in the U.S., Germany, the U.K. and Eastern Europe, Bonnier has businesses in 16 countries worldwide and employ over 10,000 people. Bonnier stands for entrepreneurship and has always combined a genuine commitment to freedom of speech with a sense for business. Bonnier is wholly owned by the Bonnier family, which has been running the company for seven generations.
Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20100402/NY80771
PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com
Source: Bonnier Corp.
CONTACT: Amanda McNally, +1-212-779-5527,
amanda.mcnally@bonniercorp.com, or Dean Turcol, +1-212-219-7434,
dean.turcol@bonniercorp.com
Web Site: http://www.bonniercorp.com/