Cosmopolitan rushes in with iPad app

App for Russian edition of Cosmopolitan beats local launch of iPad, while Australia is yet to follow suit.

In advance of the iPad's introduction into Russia, the iPad app of the Russian edition of Cosmopolitan is already available. The app was created using WoodWing's Digital Magazine Tools.

With this app, Cosmopolitan, jointly published by Hearst and Sanoma Independent Media, is fully prepared for the official launch of the iPad in Russia, which is expected in the fourth quarter of 2010.

The team used HTML5 to create animations and additional interactive features in their digital magazine. Text columns are scrollable transparent overlays, and animated typographic elements are floating on some of the pages. The designers implemented their own navigation wheel, enabling readers to adjust the type size, leave comments, get additional images and video, and access the web site of Cosmopolitan for updated information.

"It's amazing and exciting what the combination of WoodWing's technology and the extraordinary skills of our designers and editorial staff has accomplished," said Alyona Shagina, the publisher of Internet projects of Sanoma IM. "We have seen the future of publishing, and it's available today."

The iPad phase has not yet reached all countries that publish Cosmopolitan. A spokesperson for the Australian edition of Cosmopolitan, published by ACP Magazines, told Print21 that: “At this stage we have not yet made any iPad plans.”