MAIN NEWS HEADLINES
September 6 – September 13, 2007 Edition
New Global Reader
To Provide Content
for Mobile Phones
Authorlink to Contribute Stories
TORONTO, ON/9/6/07–Mobile phone users anywhere in the world will soon have the ability to download not just ring tones, but also books, magazines, journals, newspapers and even audio and video through an innovative content delivery service called the Global Reader.
The new system will be announced October 9, 2007 at the Frankfurt International Book Fair by MPS Mobile, a wholly owned subsidiary of Macmillan Publishing Solutions a Holtzbrinck Company. Authorlink.com will be among premiere content providers, featuring selected short stories by its Story Link members and a forthcoming section called CelebWire, showcasing short stories by bestselling authors.
The Global Reader service works by reflowing text on the fly from a central repository into any mobile device, framing the material to virtually any Internet-enabled mobile device The Global Reader does not require the user to buy a new device, upgrade or change phone configurations. A user simply accesses a WAP website, locates the desired content and downloads the material for a fee or free, depending on the content provider’s retail offer. Payments for downloaded material are made by credit card or PayPal, often directly through one’s mobile phone bill. A user can also “text trigger” certain content, such as TROPICAL BOB 22646, for a direct link to the material.
“The Global Reader came from the desire of one of our representatives to make comic books available on any cell phone in the US, ” explained Bob Kasher, digital services representative for the company. “We have been working for the last year on developing a solution to allow any type of print, graphic and other content to be accessed by any Internet-enabled Mobile device throughout the world.”
Global Reader will be available from over 75 mobile phone carriers in over 150 countries reaching a potential market of 2.5 billion mobile devices. MPS Mobile plans to become a one-stop shop where users can access the worlds print content via mobile devices. The service can be reached by text messaging GLOBAL READER or MPS MOBILE to 22646 or via a mobile web browser to globalreader.wap.com or mpsmobile.wap.com.
While the company is currently focused on printed material through the Global Reader product, it will also provide other mobile based products in the near future. These include:
Translation dictionaries and programs through our Global Lingual platform. This will be announced at the Liber Barcelona Book Fair on October 3rd, 2007 Audio and video content through our upcoming Global Receiver service coming in early 2008. The Global Classifieds service, allowing consumers to inexpensively post classified ads around the world MPS Global Yellow Pages which will give mobile phone users access to local yellow pages on their phones anywhere in the world (with autodial facilitation) Global Slushpile – a social networking site allowing authors and would-be authors the ability to post content directly to mobile readers for their consideration and evaluation. Literapture – A monthly subscription service giving consumers a one-fee access to the entire mobile world of print content.
“Our ambition is to offer all of the worlds literature, whether books, magazines or newspapers, through our service as well as other content as we expand our range of products, ” said Bob Kasher. At present we have a limited group of offerings that we hope will give you a taste of what will be coming. These include travel guides, language dictionaries, computer books, comic books, cookbooks, poetry, plays and novels. Eventually, you will be able to purchase chapters and segments of books as well as entire works of literature, articles as well as whole newspapers and magazines.”
Authorlink® is the news, information, and marketing site for editors, agents, writers, and readers. Online since 1996, the site attracts nearly a million unique visitors a year. Story Link is a special section where members offer short stories for download. CelebWire is a forthcoming new feature showcasing bestselling authors’ new short stories. Selected content from these sections will soon be offered through Global Reader, and authors will earn royalties on the downloads.
