All the Exact Editions iOS newsstand apps now have our ByPlace™ technology on board. This means that in some locations, which have been authorised by the publisher, the user of the iTunes app has complete and free access to all content associated with the magazine or periodical.
This leads to a very rich form of promotion, and 14 apps on the Exact Editions platform will be demonstrating ByPlace™ functionality at 16 locations in the next three weeks. Many of these demonstrations are in London, but there will also be free, open, zones for specific magazines in New York, Edinburgh, Paris and Rome.
So how does this work? If you go to the British Library, and hang around nearby on the Euston Road or go to its splendid plaza:
- You reach for your iPhone or iPad
- Install the freemium Literary Review app from iTunes
- Sample the app and when you reach some hidden content, you will be given the option to gain access ByPlace™
- Take that option. Flip the button:
- You will now have complete free access on the app, you can use it as much as you like, within the location
- You have access to all available issues, including a decent archive
- Free for as long as the location remains a free ByPlace™ zone — these initial trials will all last until 26 November
- If you walk away from the location you will lose free access and if you have enjoyed your free trial, the app is on your device and a subscription can be easily purchased at iTunes
- While you are in the zone you can even sync issues (if you have access to Wi-Fi) or bookmark search results
So what is going on here… How do the apps manage to behave in this way?
- Apps on the Exact Editions platform use the location awareness which is a standard for iOS devices
- The iOS device ‘knows’ where it is
- The user is asked whether the app can reference the location
- A publisher will have authorized the open zone by telling the Exact Editions servers the appropriate location
- The app references the location of the device and checks whether this is free access for ByPlace™
- At the British Library the free zone is Lat/Lon 51.529116 / -0.127424
- The same free service for the Literary Review is on offer from the National Libraries of Wales and Scotland
- The app will use any bandwidth available to the device: Wi-Fi, 3G, or 4G etc.
- The open zone will have an approximate radius of 50/100m
This system has great potential and Exact Editions will shortly be offering our publisher partners an interface through which they can set up their own promotional opportunities early in 2014.
