Issuu, a publishing platform for digital publications, has launched an Android application to bring content-rich publications to mobile.

The company said it hopes the new platform called EasyRead will solve the longstanding problem of reading magazines, newspapers and catalogs on small screens. The application is available as a beta version.

?Since we first launched Issuu, our goal has been to deliver exceptional reading experiences in digital format,? said Astrid Sandoval, vice president of marketing at Issuu, London.

Ms. Sandoval said Issuu has been very successful with the Web platform and reached more than 8 million visitors a month, 600 million page views and is home to more than a million publications.

Finding the eyeballs
Issuu works with top publishers such as Penguin Books, Random House, The New York Times and other independent publishers. The company said its mission is to empower individuals, companies and institutions to publish documents across all digital platforms.

The application can be downloaded from http://www.issuu.com/mobile.

Ms. Sandoval said Issuu always knew it would launch on the mobile platform because consumers continue to use handsets as the source for all information including reading magazines, newspapers and books.

?Ultimately, we want to provide the widest distribution of our publications for our users and allow our readers the choice of which device they want to use,? Ms. Sandoval said. ?With our new EasyRead technology, we feel we are just starting to resolve the problem of actually reading on small screens in digital format.?

Issuu said since this is a beta launch the company will work to improve the technology every day. It also has plans to expand to other devices, including the rumored tablet from Apple.

Mobile?s power
The application lets consumers read and explore more than 1 million free publications.

Consumers can also subscribe to publishers and get notified of the latest editions, synchronize the mobile application with their personal Issuu library and see what friends comment on, publish and bookmark.

Ms. Sandoval said mobile let the company add social tools such as sharing, commenting, notifications and geotagging.

Recently Condé Nast, Hearst, Meredith, News Corp. and Time Inc. announced a partnership to develop open standards for a new digital storefront to let consumers access media content on portable digital devices (see story).

Ms. Sandoval said Issuu is thrilled about the joint venture.

?It?s been an uphill battle at times with some of the larger publishers to convince them of the potential and opportunities of digital publications,? Ms. Sandoval said. ?Most are afraid it will cut into their print revenues and subscriptions, which is exactly the opposite of what we have seen happen with our users.

?So to finally see them heavily invest in the area is great news for us and the industry in general,? she said.