Dentsu publicized recently that it is collaborating with Yappa Corporation in order to launch “Magastore.” The company will first launch an application on Apple’s iPhone and then proceed gradually to other carriers. Magastore is a specialized sales business selling electronic magazines on mobile phones and other platforms.
The electronic distribution system including books and comics yield around 73 billion Yen annually in the domestic market. Magazines are comparatively less easy to view and the market for them has not yet been established.
Now that mobile phones with large-screen, high-resolution, touch-panel displays such as the iPhone are widely used, electronic magazine delivery services are beginning to emerge. In this current scenario, Dentsu has partnered with Yappa to develop a viewer apt for electronic magazine viewing and a sales platform for electronic magazine contents.
Dentsu has actively seeked participation from publishers. When this service is launched, around 30 types of magazines will be sold from 20 publishers. Apparently, this is expected to grow to 50 types of magazines from 30 publishers within the year.
This service is also said to expand from iPhone applications to official sites of other mobile carriers, personal computers and videogame consoles.
Initially, the electronic magazine contents sold will not contain advertisements. However, in the future advertisements will be included.