It’s interesting to see how B2B publishers are taking advantage of tablets to distribute their content. Recently I’ve looked at apps from Process Industry Informer and HazardEx, which take slightly different approaches.
The PII app is a Newsstand application on IOS (also available for Android)that provides an enhanced digital version of the publication with features including audio, video, 3D animation and image galleries. The publication is formatted for tablet reading which makes the experience much more enjoyable.
Hazardex has chosen to make the magazine just a part of their app, offering a website news feed, product directory and other features in addition. The magazine is a replica of the print version, which means that you’ll need to zoom in and out to be able to read comfortably, but the app functionality makes this a simple process.
There is a big push towards digital distribution, with obvious economic and environmental benefits. Despite the advantages, tablets represents a relatively small, but growing, proportion of readership for most B2B publications. I’m sure that publications like PII and Hazardex, which are experimenting with the format, will reap the benefits of the knowledge and experience they gain as tablet readership grows.