Newsstand (application)
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 Screenshot of Apple Newsstand on an iPad |
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| Developer(s) | Apple Inc. |
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| Initial release | October 12, 2011 (iPhone 4S) |
| Stable release |
6.1.3 (Build 10B329) (March 19, 2013) [±][1]
6.1.4 (Build 10B350) (May 2, 2013) [±][2]
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| Development status | Active |
| Operating system | iOS 5 and later |
| Available in | English, Chinese, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish |
| Type | Digital distribution |
| License | Proprietary |
| Website | itunes.apple.com |
Apple Newsstand is a built-in application on Apple iOS devices the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch. It is dedicated to downloading and displaying digital versions of newspapers and magazines. It is often confused with Newsstand, the leading online print magazine retailer.
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Features [edit]
The application is selected by touchscreen and when opened is a visual shelf, directly on the home screen, similar in style to iBooks. It emulates a newsagent's shop with virtual shelves that hold and present each newspaper and magazine that has been downloaded in to view and read, in one place. The app icon updates with the latest front covers with a notification indicator of new editions.[4][5]
There is a Store button in the top right corner, to go directly to the Newsstand category in the App Store, where after a newspaper and magazine is downloaded for free, in-app subscriptions or per individual periodicals can be purchased with an iTunes account, to download and deliver in the background the most recent edition of news automatically.[4][5]
The most popular and largest printed newspaper and magazine names now publish digital content specifically designed for mobile devices and tablet computers, often including interactive content that is unavailable in printed form.[5]
Newspaper and magazine brands have the option to move their current iOS apps to be inside the Newsstand app. Previously, before the release of Apple Newsstand, many brands had released their own separate iOS apps, and this gives them an option to nest these apps within Newsstand instead of remaining outside it (although brands can optionally release new versions of their iOS app to achieve this instead), in order to be part of the official Newsstand category within the iOS App Store and to take advantage of various features of Apple Newsstand.[6][7] One of the first apps to do this was The New York Times, who moved their previously external iOS app to be inside Newsstand, on initial release of the Newsstand app.[6]
It is currently available on iOS devices since it was introduced on iOS 5.0 and works with iCloud, both for syncing and for re-downloading magazines and newspapers.[5] Technically, Newsstand compatibility is determined by the boolean value "UINewsstandApp" in the app's info.plist file, which can be edited on jailbroken devices.
App vs. Folder [edit]
While Apple refers to Apple Newsstand as an app, it is actually a unique kind of folder, with individual apps of newspapers and magazines inside. This means that it cannot be placed inside another folder on any iOS devices, as iOS currently does not support the nesting of folders (i.e. subfolders). Apple has expressed the intention to replace the file system with easier forms of knowing where documents are; iCloud is one example. In the iOS file system all documents remain within applications.[8][9]
There has been some confusion about this from users who did not know it was already a folder, and thus found they could not easily add Newsstand into other folders they created on their devices, until many subsequently found a very specific folder creation method to bypass this deliberate limitation. However, as the operating system disallows this, doing so could cause possible minor technical failures on the devices concerned.[10]
Apple addressed this with the release of iOS 5.1, which removes this bypass method, so Newsstand is now completely unable to be nested inside other folders.[5]
Many comments on Apple's own forums and many other technology websites show that users of iOS devices wish that the newsstand icon could be hidden or removed completely if they never intend to use it.
See also [edit]
- Digital publication app
- Electronic journal
- Electronic publishing
- E-book
- Online magazine
- Online newspaper
References [edit]
- ^ "iOS 6.1.3 Software Update". Apple Inc. 2013-03-19. Retrieved 2013-03-19.
- ^ "iOS 6.1.4 Software Update". Apple Inc. 2013-05-03. Retrieved 2013-05-02.
- ^ "Apple security updates". Apple Inc. 2013-03-19. Retrieved 2013-04-15.
- ^ a b "Inside iTunes - Newsstand provides a home for your magazine and newspaper subscriptions.". Apple. Retrieved 2012-03-08.
- ^ a b c d e Covert, Adrian (October 12, 2011). "iOS 5’s Newsstand Is More Awesome than it Seems". Gizmodo. Gawker Media. Retrieved May 04, 2012.
- ^ a b Darrell Etherington (October 12, 2011, 12:11pm PT). "iOS 5: Newsstand". Gigaom. Retrieved 2012-05-24.
- ^ Jeff Sonderman (October 4, 2011 07:08 / updated: October 4, 2011 16:54). "Apple introduces Newsstand today at iPhone event, available Oct. 12 with iOS 5". Poynter. Retrieved 2012-05-24.
- ^ "Apple reinventing file access, wireless sharing for iPad". AppleInsider. Retrieved 2012-03-14.
- ^ "Apple Developer - File System Programming Guide". Apple. Retrieved 2012-03-14.
- ^ Gordon, Whitson (October 21, 2011). "Hide iOS 5’s Newsstand App in a Folder With This Trick". Lifehacker. Gawker Media. Retrieved May 04 , 2012.
External links [edit]
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