Inspired by The Beauty of Print, Flipboard Transforms How People Read and Enjoy Social Media
May 15th, 2012 • Tokyo, Japan / Palo Alto, Calif.
Today, Flipboard™ introduces its social magazine for Apple’s® iPad®, iPhone® and iPod Touch® in Japan. Flipboard is a fast and beautiful way to enjoy everything shared on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and other social networks; readers quickly flip through the latest stories, photos and updates from friends and trusted sources. The new Japanese edition of Flipboard is available for free in Apple’s Japan App Store starting today.In addition to creating a Japanese language experience, readers of Flipboard’s Japanese edition also have access to a Content Guide with hundreds of recommended content sources from well-known Japanese publications to niche blogs and local podcasts. Because people can discover and read content in any language on Flipboard, the social magazine is already popular in Japan and around the world with approximately 40 percent of the Flipboard audience outside the United States. Now readers in Japan have a completely custom experience.
“It’s our goal to make Flipboard relevant for millions of readers around the world. Japan has consistently been in our top ten of countries where Flipboard is popular so we’re excited to launch our Japanese edition today,” said Mike McCue, co-founder and CEO of Flipboard. “As we designed the edition of Flipboard we took careful consideration for the typography and layouts, making sure it would be just as beautiful in Japanese.”Flipboard applies the timeless print principles to real-time content that is shared via social media like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, Google Reader, Flickr, Tumblr and 500px. Readers can flip through the news of the day, photos from friends, favorite blogs and social networks as easily as they flip through a magazine. The new Japanese edition of Flipboard includes all the functionality of the global Flipboard experience, including the new audio experiences through Soundcloud launched today (see related press release today).
Publisher Partners
In a program called Flipboard Pages, the company works with publishers to design content on their web sites into digital magazine pages with beautiful layouts and designs. Any socially shared web story can be read in a magazine format, as web content is converted into full-page, paginated reading experiences. This program gives publishers a new way to monetize their content with beautiful full-page ads that showcase brands in the same way as magazine advertising. Using a revenue-share model, Flipboard provides new inventory for publishers while the publisher maintains its direct relationships with advertisers. Flipboard intends to make Flipboard Pages available to Japanese publishers and content creators later this year.