Kobo and Aquafadas Collaborate to Create Innovative Magazine Experience

MONTPELLIER, France, May 13, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --

Aquafadas (http://www.aquafadas.com/), innovative developer of digital publishing solutions, is breaking new publishing ground with its Aquafadas Cloud Authoring platform - making it as easy to create digital magazines as it is to read them.

The Aquafadas system is so effective and easy to use that Kobo, a global leader in eReading, uses it to digitize magazines for its Magazine store currently available in North America, the United Kingdom, France, and Italy - with more countries to be added soon.

Thanks to the Aquafadas cloud-based platform's ability to digitize mass projects quickly, more than two hundred titles and seven thousand issues have been added to the Kobo Magazine store, including popular titles from industry publishing giants such as Condé Nast, Hearst Corporation, American Media, Mansueto, Bauer Publishing Group, Mondadori, Rogers Publishing Limited and Reader's Digest.

Cloud Authoring automates the complexities associated with digitizing printed magazines for distribution to smartphones, eReaders and tablets. The tool converts a simple PDF into digital format, eliminating the need for coding or development by publishers. With easy-to-use tools, Kobo works with publishers to add important elements - including interactive tables of contents and innovative features such as "Guided Reading," offering customers a more fluid and enjoyable reading experience.

The good news for readers is that they can access their entire library - magazines and books - as well as the Kobo bookstore just about anywhere, whether it's online, on a Kobo device, or via Kobo's iOS and Android reading apps.

Kobo and Aquafadas continue to make updates to the platform, adding new functionality and tools, pushing the envelope on innovation within the ever-changing digital publishing industry.

"While there are many barriers to entry in the world of digital publishing - time, money, manpower, the list goes on - Kobo and Aquafadas essentially break them down and offer publishers a way in, without creating more work for either party," says Claudia Zimmer, CEO, Aquafadas. "By using Aquafadas Cloud Authoring to convert magazines into digital-friendly versions, all publishers need to do is provide Kobo with their magazine PDF files, which have already been created. The entire conversion process takes place behind the scenes and in the cloud."

"We're extremely pleased with the power and versatility that Aquafadas Cloud Authoring offers in terms of digitizing content," says Michael Tamblyn, Kobo's president and chief content officer. "Publishers now have easy access to a global market across virtually any device or platform. Their digital offering becomes robust, intuitive and visually engaging - just as they intended. By offering publishers this conversion service, we are able to not only save them time and money, but quickly give them an entirely new revenue stream."

Guided Reading Creates the Ideal Digital Reading Experience
Unique to Aquafadas, the Cloud Authoring "Guided Reading" technology lets readers move more fluidly through content, automatically navigating from one column to the next with one simple tap. Zimmer elaborates on the unique of the capability: "Without the distractions of panning and zooming, the digital magazine becomes a true extension of the reader, providing a more immersive reading experience."

Tamblyn adds: "When we upload publishers' print magazine files to Cloud Authoring, we can quickly get the digital version back, and this, with advanced features like Guided Reading, enables us to offer a compelling service to both readers and publishers."

For more about Aquafadas Cloud Authoring, please visit: http://www.aquafadas.com/en/digital-publishing/cloud-authoring/.

About Kobo Inc. 

Kobo Inc. is one of the world's fastest-growing eReading services offering more than 4-million eBooks and magazines to millions of customers in 190 countries.  Believing that consumers should have the freedom to read any book on any device, Kobo provides consumers with a choice when reading. Kobo offers an eReader for everyone with a wide variety of E Ink eReaders and Google-Certified Android tablets to suit any Reader's style including the award-winning Kobo Touch™, Kobo Mini, Kobo Glo, Kobo Aura, Kobo Aura HD, Kobo Arc, Kobo Arc 7, Kobo Arc 7HD, and Kobo Arc 10HD. Along with the company's free top-ranking eReading apps for Apple®, BlackBerry®, Android®, and Windows®, Kobo ensures the next great read is just a page-turn away. Headquartered in Toronto and owned by Tokyo-based Rakuten, Kobo eReaders can be found in major retail chains around the world. For more information, visit http://www.kobo.com.

About Aquafadas Cloud Authoring 

Aquafadas Cloud Authoring lets publishers easily convert PDF files into digital format and distribute across tablets, smartphones, eReaders, and the web. Flexible export options include ePUB, AVE (for publishing apps) and WebReader. Because Cloud Authoring is a cloud-based solution, it requires only an Internet connection to access Aquafadas' easy-to-use, world-class digital publishing tools. Publishers can quickly create near exact replicas of any print publication, utilizing Aquafadas features such as "Guided Reading" and "Smart Zooming" to enhance the reader experience.

The intuitive workflow, which is designed for non-technical users, supports all document types - magazines, books, marketing collateral and more. Simply upload files into Cloud Authoring, fill out the metadata and select the desired file format for publishing. Before purchasing the final product, users can try it out on the spot by downloading five pages of their file for free.  

Aquafadas Cloud Authoring also lets publishers turn large volumes of PDF files into digital content in a matter of minutes. No longer do organizations need to spend additional time and resources to painstakingly recreate titles into digital-specific formats. With Cloud Authoring, publishers can easily convert and offer vast archives or mass-produced material on tablets and the web quickly and affordably.

About Aquafadas 

Aquafadas, a pioneer in digital publishing technology, enables the creation and mass distribution of graphics rich, interactive digital content such as books, comics, corporate documents, magazines, and newspapers, across all major platforms including smartphones, tablets and the web. Businesses all over the world rely on Aquafadas' purpose-built content creation and distribution solutions to achieve their digital publishing strategies, significantly expanding content reach while lowering overhead costs. Some of Aquafadas prestigious customers include Bayard, Carrefour, Egmont International, Kelby Media Group, Lagardere, Mondadori, Reader's Digest, Sanoma, Standard & Poors and Metronews.

In addition to the Aquafadas Digital Publishing Solution, the company's line of award-winning creative software is utilized daily by thousands of graphic designers, web developers, photographers and video editors from the avid enthusiast to the seasoned professional.

A Rakuten group business, Aquafadas also provides its technological expertise to Kobo, the world's fastest growing e-reader provider. For more information about Aquafadas, please visit http://www.aquafadas.com.

Press Contacts
Anya Oskolkova
Zazil Media Group
[email protected]
(p) +1-617-817-6559
(skype) anya.oskolkova

Lauren Leger
Zazil Media Group                              
[email protected]
(p) +1-508-498-8433
(skype) lauren.zazil

Allison Reber
Aquafadas
[email protected]
(p) +33-615-643-983
(skype) allison.reber

René d'Entremont
Kobo
[email protected]
(p) +1-416-977-8737 ext. 3587

SOURCE Aquafadas