May 01
2

eBooks: Disruptive Publishing

By on May 1, 2014 | Android, iOS, Mobile App Development | No Comments

Mills & Boon, the undisputed UK market leader in romance fiction publishing (think Harlequin romance novels), has decided to become disruptive by developing its own app that allows their fans to read eBooks on the go.

Digital supermarkets run by companies like Apple, Amazon and Kobo currently dominate the eBook market, taking a big slice of the profits-pie each time a book is downloaded.

In an effort to streamline the publisher-to-reader process, Mills & Boon has created their own app reader that users can easily download to their iOS or Android mobile device. The company is hoping that, since more people are reading eBooks on their smartphones and tablets, their big gamble will pay off.

The app lets users read eBooks from their own eBookshelf on the Mills & Boon website, as well as ePub and PDF books from retailers and libraries around the world. Electronic publishing has allowed Mills & Boon to double its output. It now releases more than 100 eBooks per month, more than in print, and sells more e-books than physical books. According to Tim Cooper, digital and marketing director for the publisher, “digital lends itself to the habitual nature of our content. Our readers finish reading one and they can download the next.” Author Sharon Kendrick’s opinion is similar: “[Mills & Boon] are an intense reading experience, and they can be read quickly. People read four to five in a few days so that’s a lot of books to carry around.”

But will they be successful and will other publishers follow suit? Tune in tomorrow…

 

Oct 22
1

Fodor’s City Guides App Honored As Best Travel App

By on October 22, 2013 | iOS, Mobile App Development, UI/UX Design | No Comments

Red Foundry is proud to announce that the Fodor’s City Guides app is a winner in the 2013 Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Competition, taking the gold in the ­­­­Travel App category.

The annual competition, honoring outstanding print, online, and multimedia work, travel photography, and audio and video broadcasts, is sponsored by the Society of American Travel Writers Foundation. Winners of the awards, the most prestigious in the field of travel journalism, were announced across 25 categories Oct. 21 at the SATW convention in Biloxi, Mississippi.

Fodors Splash

The 29th Lowell Thomas competition drew 1,257 entries, which were judged by members of the faculty at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

In honoring Fodor’s work, the judges said: “This app is the perfect companion for every aspect of a trip. It helps users plan the logistics by suggesting interesting places to stay and visit and allowing them to book it right in the app [and] contributes location-specific information that enhances the in-person experience. The app is everything you would expect from a Fodor’s guidebook in a great interactive experience.”

The Foundation distributes nearly $20,000 in prize money to individual winners. Generous donations by this year’s Underwriters, the Tourist Office for Flanders-Brussels and Travel Guard, help make the prizes possible.

The Fodor’s City Guides app can be downloaded here…  cheers!

Jul 20
2

Solution Accelerators… More Elements!

By on July 20, 2013 | iOS, Mobile App Development | No Comments

As the mobile technology landscape continuously evolves…  so must our client’s apps.  We make that possible by incorporating the best Red Foundry community submissions into our Solution Accelerators and standard libraries in Studio. Here’s an overview of some of the best of the best that we’ve added recently.

• Tumblr Post – Get your blog on.
• Flickr Image Upload – Upload images to everyone’s favorite vowel-dropping photo service.
• Google Place Search – Search Google’s well-maintained and crowdsourced database of locations!
• Data Dictionary – Need to save an array of information? Tired of writing the same JavaScript over and over again? Use the Data Dictionary Element!
• LinkedIn Sharing – Post links to the world’s most professional social network!
• Google Analytics – Red Foundry’s analytics are great, but if you’re already deep in the land of Google, you can easily use their analytics with this new featured Element!
• App Rating Request Prompt – Get more ratings from your most engaged users!
• Facebook Friends Selector – Picking teams? Want to see who makes the virtual cut? Retrieve a logged-in Facebook user’s friend list, and let them select!
• Slider – Use the slider widget to allow the user to pick between a range of values!
• Font Size Selector – Make your UI easily customizable for those of us who need to have larger text!
• Date and Time Picker – Pick a date, any date!
• UrbanAirship – Now the world’s most-customizable Push Notification service comes to Red Foundry! Use the UrbanAirship Element to register your users for highly-specific Push targets. Check out their service at www.urbanairship.com.

Keep your eyes peeled for new Elements!

Jul 15
1

New Partners

By on July 15, 2013 | Mobile App Development | No Comments

Red Foundry gets to see a lot of great tools and services for mobile app developers.  Here are a few of our new partners that are definitely worth checking out. Be sure to tell them you’re using Red Foundry!

• Keynotopia  – Use Keynote and PowerPoint to create great app Prototypes before you start coding. Click here to visit Keynotopia.
• MobileDevHQ – A great service to help optimize App Store keywords and placement. Click here to visit MobileDevHQ.

As always, thanks for using Red Foundry!  We’re here to build killer mobile solutions for our clients, so let us know if we can help in anyway. Contact us if you have questions, need support, or have a great mobile project that you need assistance with!

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