MEDIA-I: Qiosk signs on Indian titles for Asia launch

NEW DELHI: Qiosk.com, a virtual online newsstand, has signed on major Indian titles such as Stardust and g for its launch in Asia and the US. The company's subsidiary, QMags.com, allows publishers to distribute their titles over the internet just as they appear in print, with the added benefit of its 'page-turning' technology. The online publications are presented in colour and feature the same content and advertisers as the print versions. According to Qiosk.com chairman Daniel M. Schwartz, the site offers Asian titles such as Outlook, Intelligent Investor, Savvy CookBook and Chitralekha Marathi, as well as Stardust International and g. Although there is still a strong preference for ink-on-paper to reading articles on screen, Schwartz said a generation of readers was coming of age, who have either no preference or prefer e-media. "The launch follows testing that involved 15 American publications. We found that people are not only willing to receive publications over the internet, but are also willing to pay for them. From our tests we found 31 per cent of readers have an equal preference to reading journals online and in print. We don't think this new format will be detrimental to advertisers, as it will offer them another channel," said Schwartz. Subscribers can use Adobe Reader to view the magazine. All headlines on the table of contents and the cover serve as hyperlinks to stories. Similarly, advertisers' logos link to websites for companies and products. "For advertisers, there are changes to the geometry of how you produce an ad. But there are more opportunities because you can feature audio and video content on each ad, which can also be hyperlinked to an advertiser's website," said Schwartz. He added that publishers would be allowed to decide how much to charge for a Qmags subscription. Stardust will cost less than a subscription to the print magazine in India. The company also offers publishers the option to decide whether they want to sell individual articles through QMags and how they will handle matters like electronic copyrights to stories and photographs. The cost of processing each magazine into a downloadable format - the equivalent of pre-press processing - and transmitting it over the internet would be passed along to publishers. "We found US publishers to be more conservative than those in Asia. The Indian market is very difficult to crack, but in general, Asian publishers quickly see the strategic and financial advantages of delivering via Qmags," said Schwartz. He said Qmags, which has an advisory board that includes former top executives from Time Inc, Hearst, McGrawHill and Newsweek, would generate revenue by charging publishers a fee for each copy or subscription sold. US titles can be found at www.qmags.com and Asian titles at www.intl.qmags.com.

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