The Digital Reader

I tend to ignore apps (especially ones that run on Apple hardware), so I almost missed this company. I’m glad I caught the, because Sideways had a couple iPad app demos that are worth seeing.

The first was what they’re calling an author app. This app would be made for an author (or his publisher) and given away to the author’s fans. From the author’s viewpoint it’s really a social networking tool – a way of building their fan base. It lets the fans follow an author’s blog, twitter or Facebook. A retail store can be integrated into the app (Amazon?) so the fans can buy the author’s books. There’s also a digital dust jacket page.

I saw it, and I have to say that it looked interesting. The app was solidly built and easy to operate. It’s expensive, though. It costs $1k to make and $75 a month in maintenance.

The second video is a concept demo of a cookbook.