The recent launch of mobile app developer Snapplify gives the publishing market a full turnkey solution for transforming their content into mobile apps within minutes, for global distribution via the Apple App Store. It is the first to offer this kind of service to publishers at zero upfront cost.
Profitable from the first month without any marketing, Snapplify has had great market validation of its service from clients. One, an academic institution, is using Snapplify to convert textbooks into apps, describing it as "a much easier and affordable way to teach and learn".
Snapplify features
- Turnkey mobile apps
- Target and reach a global audience
- No upfront costs, so even smaller publishers can target niche markets
- Open to everyone regardless of scale of company
- Publishers use Snapplify's Apple account, meaning they do not pay development fees to load their apps to the iStore
- Publishers pay commission on book sales
- Apps can contain multiple e-books
Future developments
Lynch says a critical success factor has been Snapplify's choice of mobile apps over physical magazines and books (EPUBS), for example - "they are easier, more cost-effective and interactive".
Snapplify is aggressively developing its technology to incorporate many new features in the future. "We are working on enhancing the apps' interactiveness, to allow publishers to add features such as quizzes or mobile colouring books."
Snapplify will also incorporate a social media component and interactiveness in the future, he adds.
Frankfurt Book Fair
The company was founded by entrepreneur, investor and software developer Wesley Lynch, whose 11 years in the industry will stand the company in good stead as it grows.
Snapplify was publicly launched at the recent worldwide Frankfurt Book Fair. Lynch reports being inspired by the vibrant, deal-making culture at Frankfurt. "There is an immense hunger for going digital. Every presentation talked about it, but besides the larger players - publishers, retailers and device manufacturers - few had the strategy or knowledge to do it.
"It didn't take much to see the enormous benefits of our solution for publishers in their current predicament. We told one publisher we could instantly repurpose their publication for iPad, and they gave us their content there and then."
Destined for great things
Snapplify has already established a UK and South African office, and has begun working for various publishing clients including in multiple regions including Africa, the UK, Asia and South America, says Lynch. They include iMaverick, Random House Struik, New Holland Publishing and Fiell Publishing.
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