The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette is providing subscribers a digital replica of its printed edition combined with breaking news from the newspaper?s Web site via an application for Apple?s iPad.

The application is available to Arkansas Democrat-Gazette subscribers at the same time the print editions are delivered to homes in Arkansas. The ArkansasOnline iPad app is based on PressReader technology from NewspaperDirect, which helped produce the application.

?We wanted to make sure we had a replica newspaper for potential and existing subscribers to have access to the print edition because the layout of the newspaper is done very strategically and that is the reasoning behind letting consumers consume the newspaper as is on the iPad device,? said Conan Gallaty online director of The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Little Rock, AZ.

Features
The application is designed to give users a very newspaper-esque experience.

Users can flip pages as if they are reading the printed publication. They can pan, zoom or rotate pages, articles and photos, and view them in high-definition.

Additionally, readers can open full articles in an easy-to-read text view and even listen to the publication, using on-demand audio.

Consumers can share articles with friends via email.

Advertising
AT&T is the exclusive launch sponsor of the application, with full page ads between sections and banner ads along the bottom and side of the iPad screen.

AT&T obviously gets to engage with the readers of the newspaper by connecting them to digital content they could not be connected to if they were reading a print version of the paper.

?We know so far that about 25 percent of consumers that have downloaded the app have activated their subscription,? Mr. Gallaty said. ?So 75 percent are either a new audience or they have not activated their subscription yet.

?Apple got out front first and put the iPad in more people?s hands than anyone else,? he said. ? And the cross-platform distribution is important as people use the new technologies for their news consumption habits.

?If people are on the tablet we need a presence there.?

Final take
Here is a demo of the iPad app
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