AOL launches first tablet magazine, Editions

AOL has launched its first tablet magazine, Editions, to take on publishers such as News Corp and Seven Publishing.

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It is the latest in a string of personalised ’magazine’ apps designed specifically for tablets, in particular Apple’s iPad.

Earlier this year News Corp launched its iPad-only news proposition The Daily to much fanfare, while Richard Branson’s lifestyle iPad-only magazine, Project, produced by Seven Publishing, will soon reach its tenth edition.

AOL Editions, however, follows a vein more akin to content curation app Flipboard, which aggregates publisher and social media content from a variety of sources.

Content from AOL-owned properties, including Patch, Huffington Post and Sporting News, are embedded within the Editions app.

The content is organised into local news, business, sports, entertainment and technology sections, which users can select or omit. The app “learns” what users like and don’t like through a preferencing system that indicates what they want to see more or less of.

Other features include an opening page with local weather and a schedule showing appointments synched with a user’s iPad calendar, as well as birthdays linked to Facebook, if activated. Media owners’ and publishers’ Twitter feeds can also be incorporated into Editions.

AOL says that although there are not any ads on Editions at present, this is likely to change over the coming months.

The launch of Editions is the portal’s latest content offering. Last week, it confirmed it will close its Music and FanHouse sites in September, as it looks to consolidate its offering and integrate recent acquisitions, including the Huffington Post, into its portfolio.

This story first appeared on New Media Age. For more digital stories and analysis from NMA click here now

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