Digital newsstand Zinio expanding into Android devices

March 25, 2010 — 1:26pm ET | By Tammy Parker

Tools

LAS VEGAS--Zinio, which provides digital versions of magazines and book titles, is extending its electronic reading platform beyond the iPhone and into the Android arena.

Zinio is in early beta testing with a version of its ereader platform for the Android operating system, which should ultimately be suitable for use in any Linux-based ereader, said Jeanniey Mullen, Zinio's global executive vice president and chief marketing officer.

The Android-compatible version is a follow-up to Zinio's January launch of an iPhone and iPod app for its Unity-branded reading platform. That app is available for free via the Apple App Store in many nations where the iPhone is sold.

In addition, a version of Unity for the Apple iPad is slated to arrive next month, said Mullen during an interview at the CTIA Wireless show here. Unlike the iPhone app, which launched with a limited number of accessible titles, "The iPad will have our entire newsstand available on the first day," Mullen said.

Zinio's Unity already supports PC, Mac, netbook, touchscreen and tablet devices.

Mullen said research has shown that the average consumer uses four different technology devices each day to retrieve information. Rather than making a customer pay more than once to access the same reading material on multiple devices, Zenio's pay-once, read-everywhere Unity platform enables a customer to access the same content on multiple digital devices for a single fee.

The Unity platform enables publishers to add digital content to their published material, such as video, animated maps, rollover graphics or interactive ads. Zinio's platform does not support ereaders with black-and-white screens, such as the Amazon Kindle or Sony's ereader offerings.

Privately held Zinio, which was founded in 2001, said it distributes in excess of 50,000 digital magazines and books publications to more than 140 different countries.

For more:
- see this release