Optimise your WordPress site for smartphones – the quick way!

Posted on by Alex Blackman
Web traffic from mobiles is estimated to be growing eight times faster than that from UK PCs (Deloitte, 2009). Gartner predicts that by 2013, mobiles rather than PCs will be the most common web access devices. As this trend continues, the challenges for companies wishing to make their sites not only functional but also usable and even aesthetically pleasing for users of mobile devices becomes ever more pressing. So here’s one good piece of news for those whose blog or website, like the Discovery Blog, is based on WordPress: a plugin that does the job simply and well. Continue reading →

Publisher choices for mobile delivery – apps vs websites

Posted on by Richard Padley
The current explosion in interest around mobile devices such as the iPad and Kindle raises an interesting question for publishers. Is it best to create mobile specific websites to deliver content to smartphones, iPads or other mobile devices, or is it better to develop apps targeted at the iPhone, Android and other mobile platforms? In this post I examine the pros and cons of each approach. Continue reading →

Penguin opts for Apps

Posted on by Alex Blackman
Following on from Richard Padley’s recent post on apps vs e-books, it has emerged that one publisher at least, Penguin Books, has made the choice. Up until now the battle has been pretty one-sided, with both Apple and Amazon releasing their e-Books using the no frills e-Pub format. However, Penguin has now planted its flag firmly in the ‘app’ camp; choosing a format which will enable them to embed audio, images and even animation and video into their e-book apps. ‘The definition of a book itself … is up for grabs,’ said CEO of Penguin Books, John Makinson. It’s a decisive move, but is it a wise one? Continue reading →

iBooks or Apps? The publisher's dilemma

Posted on by Richard Padley
Should publishers sell books using Apple’s App Store or iBookstore? Many publishers have started using the iPhone App Store as a channel to sell book content by packaging e-books as applications. There are currently 18,000 books in the App Store, and books are the fastest growing category of application in the store. With the launch of the iPad and the iBookstore, Apple has given publishers another option for delivering content. In this post we analyse the pros and cons of both approaches. Continue reading →