HP Updates MagCloud Service, Provides Single Platform for Digital and Print Magazines

New services bring publishers worldwide shipping, additional binding options, digital magazine application

PALO ALTO, Calif., HP today announced new services for its MagCloud print-on-demand publishing platform, offering publishers more opportunities to deliver their ideas, stories and images into readers’ hands.

New features such as worldwide shipping, additional binding options and a digital magazine iPad application enable publishers to reach an even broader audience.

Conceived in HP Labs, the company’s central research arm, MagCloud extends the digital revolution to the publishing industry by delivering a web-based marketplace where magazine publishers can affordably turn their targeted content into print and digital magazine formats. New MagCloud features include:

* MagCloud magazine store and reader application for iPad – Available at no additional charge through the App Store, the MagCloud iPad app allows readers to download a digital copy of the magazine onto their iPad device, with the option to purchase printed copies directly from their iPad. Now any publisher – from traditional to niche magazines – can offer content in both digital and print magazine formats using MagCloud as a common platform.
* Worldwide shipping – With extended shipping offerings, readers worldwide can now order single issues of the magazines available through MagCloud.
* Perfect binding – MagCloud now offers publishers the option for perfect-bound magazines, which provides a more professional look and accommodates a much higher page count – more than 300 pages.

Enabling new business models

The MagCloud publishing community consists of all varieties of publishers – from traditional media companies leveraging MagCloud to turn existing content libraries into targeted and special edition issues to independent publishers and businesses promoting highly targeted content and services.

Leveraging HP’s extensive print service provider network utilizing HP Indigo print technology, MagCloud is a print-on-demand platform that requires no upfront preproduction costs or minimum print runs. This makes it affordable and convenient for first-time and commercial publishers alike.

The appetite for targeted magazine content is growing. More magazines are introduced every week on MagCloud than were launched through traditional magazine publishing channels during all of 2009.(1) The service also has enabled a new breed of “pop up” magazines created by ad-hoc and widely distributed groups of professionals.

Spearheading this new movement in collaborative, real-time magazine publishing are magazines such as Strange Light, Onè Respe and Linchpin, all of which use new digital media tools and content crowd sourcing to overcome traditional media barriers.

Supporting quotes

“MagCloud has enabled thousands of magazine publishers to sell hundreds of thousands of magazine issues, generating millions of pages of new content. These new MagCloud services unlock an even greater opportunity for growth, providing readers the freedom to consume the targeted content they want in the format they want, whether that be print or digital.”

* Andrew Bolwell, director, New Business Initiatives, HP

About HP

HP creates new possibilities for technology to have a meaningful impact on people, businesses, governments and society. The world’s largest technology company, HP brings together a portfolio that spans printing, personal computing, software, services and IT infrastructure to solve customer problems. More information about HP (NYSE: HPQ) is available at http://www.hp.com/.

(1) Calculation based on new magazine run rate data on MagCloud from HP and new magazine launch data from Magazine Consulting & Research Inc.