Echelon magazine launches iPad app

Echelon, Sri Lanka’s latest business magazine, has launched a purpose designed interactive version for the iPad available now for free download from the Apple App Store. The interactive iPad edition bundles all the content from Echelon’s print edition with additional editorial, images, video and interactive graphics.

The iPad has revolutionised the way magazines are viewed globally due to its ease of use and ability to offer multimedia content. Echelon combines this with its core values of in-depth storytelling, engaging layouts and purpose driven photography, giving readers an interactive experience that will combine web, audio and video of interviews, and inside perspectives to the stories.

Publishing for the iPad lends itself to Echelon’s strengths, like the long-form journalism and depth in reporting, according to the magazine’s editor Shamindra Kulamannage.

“Our content is the type enjoyed at leisure and ideally suited for the iPad and the magazine format,” he said. The Echelon app and the web presence bring a broad audience to the magazine including thousands of Sri Lankans living overseas.

“We strongly feel that the print magazine in Sri Lanka has a lot more growth left in it but the chance to adopt a new format that is redefining how people experience content is something we could not pass up on,” Shafraz Farook, Echelon’s Creative Director noted. The interactive edition will initially be free and will be available through the Apple Newsstand. iPad users will have to download the Echelon app, which will hold each monthly issues in a library.

The interactive edition supports distinctive designs for horizontal and vertical orientations, so readers experience the magazine differently depending on how they like to hold or use their iPads. Developed in collaboration with a specialist online publishing firm, the app is proven to be robust. The magazine is also retina ready, offering better than HD clarity in pictures and text. However the download file size has been kept to a minimum, offering reasonable download times even on a patchy broadband connection.

An unanticipated development has been the level of interest from advertisers to use the interactivity on the iPad to allow readers to interact with their brands in unique ways. However, in the spirit of offering an enhanced experience on iPads, Echelon has limited the number of advertisements that will appear in the interactive edition. The print and interactive editions are designed by Capital Media, the publisher of the Echelon magazine.