Zinio 2.0 for iPad adds in-app purchasing, free article preview (video)

If you're reading magazines on your iPad, there's a fairly good chance that you're using Zinio. Released today, version 2.0 of the Zinio app for iPad makes it easier to hand over those newsstand-like per-issue fees with in-app purchasing, while also adding a variety of free preview content, including access to current articles from thousands of top publications. The app's new Explore section hosts this new free content, which updates daily and includes stories from magazines like Esquire, Rolling Stone, and Elle. The new app also features significant performance boosts, like we saw with last month's Android update, in-magazine shopping, and advanced bookmarks. Another update in the coming months will bring social media capabilities, such as bookmark and article sharing. We'd still love to see lower per-issue and subscription rates, but we're happy to welcome free article content in the meantime. Jump past the break for a video overview, along with a sneak peek at those social media features with Zinio CEO Rich Maggiotto.

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Zinio 2.0 App for iPad, Now Available, Advances the Interactive Reading Experience

Users Benefit from Unprecedented Content Discovery, including a Personalized, Immersive Reading and Shopping Experience

SAN FRANCISCO, July 29, 2011 – Zinio, the world's largest and most popular global magazine newsstand, today announced that its 2.0 App for iPad is now available in the iTunes Store. This new version of Zinio offers industry-first article exploration, stellar user interaction and in-app shopping capabilities to the most in-depth selection of premium, high-quality consumer magazines from around the world.

Unique to Zinio, the "Explore" section is front and center and offers unprecedented free access to current stories across every major magazine genre, from automotive to entertainment, and lifestyle to science and tech. Only with Zinio can users discover and enjoy the best magazine content from among Zinio's 4,500 magazine titles, with new stories to enjoy daily from our most popular titles including Esquire, Rolling Stone, Islands and Elle.

Additional new features and updates to the Zinio 2.0 App for iPad include:

• Updated Speed and Design: Interface updates have led to a cleaner look and richer visuals that are designed to create an even more compelling reading experience. Zinio users will also benefit from up to 3x faster performance speed, allowing for a smoother experience with downloading, page navigation and interactive content.

• Bookmarks: Zinio 2.0 includes the highly-anticipated bookmark capability, which allows readers to save their favorite stories for easy access, the ability to edit/personalize the titles to suit their preference, and sort their bookmarked stories by date and title. Tracking favorite news stories, travel destinations, fashion tips, workouts, recipes and more has never been so easy.

• Enhanced Library Management: Storing and managing a library just got a lot more convenient. A highly visible arrow appears on issues that have yet to be downloaded, so readers can be sure they have downloaded all of their issues for offline reading during travel.

• In-App iTunes Purchasing: Zinio offers a frictionless, digital shopping experience. Not only can users explore and browse items within Zinio that catch their eye, but they can also purchase single issues, back issues and subscriptions in-app, simply using their iTunes account.

• In-Zinio Shopping: Shopping is fast and simple. Readers can now buy clothing, accessories, furniture and a ton of other things – from within their favorite magazines. There is no need to leave Zinio to purchase things that catch a reader's eye.

"Magazine readers expect and love high-quality, premium content – and Zinio's 2.0 app for iPad goes far beyond today's norm to deliver stories in a visually rich, immersive and interactive new way," said Rich Maggiotto, Zinio president and CEO. "Our new Explore section is a first, and creates the ability to browse and enjoy content you might never even knew existed from trusted editors around the globe. We've focused on satisfying the curiosity of our passionate readers, and delivering stories that personally matter to them, across all areas of interest."

Continually advancing interactive capabilities allow readers to experience stories in new and immersive ways with a text view option, interactive graphics, animated illustrations, videos, in-Zinio shopping and more.

Another reader-friendly advantage with Zinio is its UNITY™ platform, which allows users to store and enjoy their library across the most popular devices and platforms today, including Mac, PC, laptop, Linux, iOS, Android, Windows 7, and soon WebOS and BlackBerry. Users can access their entire library on every device that they use Zinio on – there are no complicated rights issues that only allow one issue on one device.