Adobe has unveiled the suite of digital publishing tools that will enable designers to create digital content for devices such as the iPad.
The Adobe Digital Publishing Suite extends InDesign CS5 so that designers can create both fixed and adaptive layouts, natively build new levels of interactivity, distribute and monetise their digital editions and optimise both editorial and advertising content within an end-to-end digital publishing workflow.
“The publishing industry is reinventing itself and a new era of editorial and advertising innovation is upon us as publishers target new mobile hardware platforms,” said David Wadhwani, senior vice president and general manager for Creative and Interactive Solutions, Adobe. “By leveraging the InDesign CS5 workflow and the services of the Digital Publishing Suite, professional publishers can design and commercialise a new class of innovative digital magazines to create a richer and more dynamic reading experience that will attract high-value subscribers and advertisers.”
The Digital Publishing Suite will support the Adobe Content Viewer for iOS and Adobe AIR and that can be fully publisher-branded for distribution on tablet devices such as the iPad and the new breed of Android and BlackBerry tablets — the same technology that MacUser’s publisher, Dennis, already uses to distribute its free iGizmo digital magazine through the App Store.
The suite includes production, distribution, e-commerce and analytics servers. Articles can be uploaded directly from InDesign CS5 to a hosted service in which publishers can collaborate on design, assemble final content in the correct order, add issue and article metadata and preview the complete issue as it will appear in final published form on the desktop and tablet devices.
Publishers can also create merchandising programs such as print and digital content bundles and enable readers to purchase content directly from within the magazine application on their device. Direct publisher e-commerce support for interoperability will allow readers to purchase content once and read it on their desktop or tablet devices.
Built-in Adobe SiteCatalyst analytics powered by Omniture let publishers access prebuilt dashboards directly from within the hosted publishing workflow to view key advertising and subscriber data including total ad views, issue download and purchase metrics and engagement with interactive content such as video.
The Digital Publishing Suite is expected to be widely available in the second quarter 2011. The Professional Edition is expected to cost US$699 per month plus a per-issue fee, which scales with publisher volume. An Enterprise Edition is available as a custom, multi-year platform agreement that includes access to APIs for integration of back-end publishing services such as subscription management, print fulfilment and e-commerce.
