Fast Company launches new IOS app

Robert Safian, the editor of Fast Company magazine, writes about the redesigned IOS app for the publication.

Safian writes, “Which is why, when we were approached by Adobe a year ago about collaborating on a new format for magazine apps, we embraced the opportunity. The process has helped us hone our understanding of mobile usage practices and mobile design tools. And this week, we’ve released the first fruit from that learning on the App Store. This new Fast Company app integrates our monthly magazine content with real-time feeds from our web properties — fastcompany.com, fastcodesign.com, fastcocreate.com, and fastcoexist.com — plus adds a new editorial layer: an ‘our picks’ channel, selected by the editors.

“Our motivation for this new app is simple: While we’re proud of our existing (and still ongoing) iPad app for the monthly magazine, the readership remains small compared with the volume of users who access our content on the web and via their phones. Why not offer those users a unified app-based experience that lives on both iPad and iPhone? The new app does not sit within Apple’s Newsstand, so the content can be a click or two closer for users. And the app and all its content is being offered free to consumers at launch.

“In our beta testing — to a universe of 700 volunteers — the feedback on the experience and the content was strongly positive. As the app is opened up to wider users, we’ll learn more. We believe this app provides a step forward for our users, a better experience for iPhone and iPad users than they can get elsewhere. We also know that this is just the beginning, that the relationship between apps and mobile sites is still evolving, that we need to provide better tools for those on Android and other non-iOs devices, that even our fresh-from-the-gate app needs additional features that aren’t feasible on Adobe’s platform yet, but will be in the months ahead.”