Date Posted: 17 Jun 2010
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Bringing to life all elements of the paper in digital and with dynamic functionality.
www.thesun.co.uk
www.digitaljigsaw.com
Digital agency Jigsaw, which is part of the Mobile Interactive Group (MIG), has been appointed by News International to build an iPad App for The Sun newspaper. The App launched this week and forms a key part of News International’s digital strategy: To deliver content to its current readers in new interactive formats and to appeal to a wider demographic.
Following the success of ‘The Sun Sweepstake Shaker’ iPhone App that Jigsaw built for the Grand National in April this year, the agency was directly appointed to deliver their first iPad App. The App has been jointly created and built by Jigsaw and News International’s in-house development team, and its purpose is to deliver the paper in electronic format to monthly subscribers and stream live content from thesun.co.uk.
To blend the traditional with the new, Jigsaw built a newspaper reading component into their backend technology to replicate the page-turning experience. Other features include dynamic menu navigation, interactive maps, billing functionality and facilitation of the subscription process. Readers are invited to download the App for £4.99 per month for which they receive 24 copies. News International is handling the live content section.
David Balko, commercial director, Jigsaw commented, “We relish the challenge and were honoured to be asked by The Sun, the largest paper in the country and a national institution, to build their first iPad App. To be building and creating Apps for a product that has only just launched in the UK is a big deal to us and it's been a great experience to work collaboratively with News Internationals in-house team of developers. The timescales for the project were short and the brief challenging but the results are incredible. Moreover, to enhance the user experience Jigsaw will be adding more interactive functions over the coming months to further engage current and new readers.”
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