Transform print publications for tablets with Realmdigital, Adobe

Realmdigital, the award-winning development firm, has become the only official African partner to Adobe's Digital Publishing Suite, offering publishing firms global reach via iPad, BlackBerry and Android tablets without costly, lengthy bespoke development.

The Cape-based company has achieved recognition for its development on the iPad, mobile, social and Web platforms for clients, including Avusa (Exclus1ves), Mix Telematics and Media24.

Wesley Lynch, Realmdigital founder and CEO, says the announcement builds on the company's existing relationship with Adobe.

* Earlier this year, Realmdigital became one of the first companies in the southern hemisphere to integrate with Adobe Content Server - the content repository of choice for major publishers and the technology used to apply DMR to e-books.

* Realmdigital also distributes Adobe Video Streaming, used to develop mobile TV applications, live event streaming and content on demand.

Lynch says the explosion in tablet devices has changed the way in which people consume media, with leaps in interactivity and analytics. To cater for this revolution, Adobe Digital Publishing Suite greatly eases the process of creating, distributing, monetising and optimising publications for tablets.

* Easy, standard creation
“To begin with, the suite leverages Adobe InDesign, the industry standard for creating print publications, allowing designers to easily transform print-ready InDesign files for mobile devices,” says Lynch.

* Distribution sorted
Distribution is a cinch too. Publishers can create branded viewer apps for their publications using the Adobe Viewer Builder application, and simply upload it to tablet app stores, where consumers can download it.

* Payment sorted
And since Apple already offers a payment mechanism for iPad apps on App Store (as does BlackBerry App World and certain Android app stores), the publication need not build its own payment infrastructure or even invest in server infrastructure or hosting connectivity.

“This takes care of monetisation,” Lynch continues. “All a publisher needs to do is pay Adobe an annual fee, and to create and upload new versions of their publication for tablet platforms.”

* Don't just read, interact!
In addition, the suite adds interactive features to publications. Lynch explains that iPads and other tablets offer extra features such as zooming, rotation, media embedding, scrolling and so forth, all of which are easily added with ADPS.

* Who's reading you?
Finally, readership analytics is far more scientific with digital and online publications, Lynch says. “Whenever your e-book or online magazine is downloaded you can monitor it and measure the success or otherwise of your work. It's a powerful tool that feeds back into content creation.”

Interested?

“We've had a lot of interest from publishers,” he says. “The old way was very prohibitive in terms of cost and time spent developing iPad apps. It would have been a very cumbersome and somewhat expensive process, so this is an easy way to get a lot of benefit. Quite a few customers have been testing the platform with us.”

For more information, visit:
http://www.realmdigital.co.za/solution/digital-publishing/ and
http://www.adobe.com/products/digitalpublishingsuite/