Zinio has just released a new iPhone App.  This is great news for magazine publishers who ultimately will depend on technology providers and specifically magazine digital edition solution providers for mobile and magazine app delivery of their content.

Zinio has always been the leader in the digital magazine space and sets the bar for other digital magazine vendors.  Zinio is more focused on the broad consumer magazine market so it’s likely that your favorite niche title or trade magazine will not yet be listed.  In the past year however, we have seen Zinio move toward the business and regional market with special programs for these publishers.

Lets look at the Zinio App in the iTunes Store.

Glad to see the app is free.  Obviously this market is more valuable from a overall market expansion perspective than making  a buck or two on the app.

Once you download the Zinio App and tap, it launches to the initial account initialization or setup screen.

Existing Zinio users (register online at zinio.com) can enter their username and password.

You then see the main digital magazine iPhone reader interface.  The App launches to the “My Library” screen as expected.  You can sort your iPhone magazine library by Date or Title.

The magazine app’s iPhone newsstand is where I expect to see some real growth in the futere app updates.  As more titles are added, you can bet this section of the app will enable Zinio to feature and promote new titles in a similar format to the iTunes store.

The Zinio App “More” menu presents administrative elements of the app.  There’s room for an additional main screen app menu and perhaps this is where we will see app magazine previews and other features in future updates.

Selecting an iPhone app magazine title in the app newsstand launches Safari to complete the digital magazine app subscription.  Once accepted, the Zinio App is re-launched from Safari and you may download your digital magazine app to read on your iPhone.

As you view your digital magazine in 1 page or 2-page layout mode, you’ll appreciate that for article and feature text, the app developer has created a “Read Mode” which brings the article into a text mode for ease of reading.

Overall, the simplicity and quality of this magazine app for iPhone makes this an app that any magazine enthusiast will want to grab.

Zinio iPhone App Video

Google Labs is making a play further into the digital publishing sector with Fast Flip. The Google News Blog reports that Google partnered with three dozen top publishers in a revenue share program to build the service platform. It’s a different type of digital edition. The digital images provide a fast viewing experience across many publisher website web pages. In my opinion there are implications here on what may come in the future. Fast Flip certainly supports the digital edition presentation concepts popular within the magazine publishing community today. It’s all about content, usability, and design folks.

Today we’re adding a new experiment to Google Labs: Google Fast Flip, accessible at fastflip.googlelabs.com. Fast Flip is a new reading experience that combines the best elements of print and online articles. Like a print magazine, Fast Flip lets you browse sequentially through bundles of recent news, headlines and popular topics, as well as feeds from individual top publishers.

via Google News Blog: Read news fast with Google Fast Flip.

Design is important! As we move back to the important of design and graphic communication, I believe that publishers doing well (especially magazine publishers) in this area will benefit from visual presentations. My first question every time someone walks into my office with a new eReader, ebook, or mobile app is, “does it display graphics?”

But Fast Flip requires publishers to showcase more of their content than a simple Google News listing requires, which could allow readers to completely skip clicking through after getting the gist of the story from the first few paragraphs. On the other hand, a more attractive presentation of the story could attract more clicks than a single headline might. – cnet News

In addition to the browser version of Fast Flip, they also created a mobile version. http://fastflip.googlelabs.com/mobile

Martin Nisenholtz, the NYT‘s SVP of digital operations, cautions against reading too much into the revenue sharing—or the relationship. “There’s no grand plan here, nothing more to this other than learning,” he told paidContent. “This is not about any kind of large strategic relationship issue.” – paidcontent.org

The Fast Flip site is fastflip.googlelabs.com

Take a few flips and let us know what you think!

A recent discussion on the MediaPRO community site prompted me to share my take on digital edition magazine advertising.  Specifically, web based banner ads in and around digital magazines.

I agree with the need for publishers to view their digital editions as a unique brand element. Editorial multimedia and augmented ad or commercial capabilities are also excellent in digital format.  We want our print readers to be excited about the same magazine issue in their email inbox as the digital version to see the “interactive and multimedia version” of the issue.  We also want them to view web based elements that have been optimized for the website.

However, I don’t think a digital edition issue or platform is “monetized” by adding player frame banners or ad serving zones inside the issue.  Especially generic served ads.  Show a bank of text ads or an ad for a product/service with no connection to your brand and you’ll let everyone know immediately the value of your advertising program. Every magazine is different in terms of objectives online, but most publishers want to achieve a quality cover-to-cover browsing experience with their digital magazines.  Let’s not forget that a full page ad in a digital edition is an advertisement (much better than a banner ad) and should be producing ad revenue in that digital display format.  And even more revenue if the ad has been enhanced, optimized, or provides interactive elements.

I feel that relevant ads, quality creative guidelines, within the digital magazine, that enhance the reader experience, and maintain a proper multimedia balance for reader expectations will produce higher long term value and revenue to the publisher.

Please share your ideas and examples of digital magazines that are producing audience development and advertiser results.

Image: Digital Editions Discussion Group from MediaPRO

Design is why the graphic communication in a magazine creates a brand. Web design is another channel and an equally important one.

We have continued the innovation in our own digital magazine solutions and will continue to help publishers use the digital edition as a tool.

Our writer Frederic Lardinois raised a very good question when PC Magazine went digital: why is PC Magazine putting time and effort into producing a digital edition of its magazine, instead of just focusing on improving its website? The answer probably comes down to one word: design. The best thing about magazines, to many of us, is their design. Probably the most successful tech magazine of this era is Wired, which is renowned for its design.

via The Digital Magazine: Has its Time Come? .

The emerging e-reader devices will indeed create a new readership pull on this new and popular medium.

There are some strong opinions on this issue, especially those that enjoy holding their print magazines. There is a time and a place for that experience.  There is a time and a place for digital.  And, there is value in both.