Everyone in the media world, it seems is obsessed with the future of magazines in an online world. Yorkville-based
Mygazines thinks they have at least part of that problem figured out.
The online newsstand was originally launched in June 2008 as a YouTube-inspired portal for consumers to upload magazines they read. But after running into copyright problems, the company was taken over in November of that year by FlypTech to, as CEO Yoav Schwartz says, "offer the same technology scaled to meet publishers demands.
Since then, the company has grown to employ a staff of seven and represent over 100 direct publishers from countries including the US, UK, Australia and New Zealand on its digital newsstand, and 400-500 titles through resales. Last week, the company announced the launch of an interface for mobile devices -- the same system will work for all major handheld gadgets, including the iPhone and Google Android.
"This technology is revolutionary in that it's device-independent," Schwartz said in a news release, explaining why the company did not opt to build an app for a specific device. "With so many devices entering the market, the only consistent element that we can count on lasting the test of time is the internet browser. That's why we've created this interface to adapt to mobile browsers across different devices."
The company also plans to soon formally launch an e-commerce program (already
soft-launched on the site) that Schwartz expects to be "a real game-changer." Plans are also afoot to launch Flipbook 3.0, a vector-based reader for PC, Mac, netbooks, laptops and other flash devices.
Author: Edward Keenan
Source: Yoav Schwartz, CEO of Mygazines