kooaba Paperboy App Allows Interaction in Traditional Print Media

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Here is a cool way to integrate technology into traditional print media. kooaba has created an app (iOS and Android) that allows readers to participate in a discussion on a publication. Watch the video after the break.

Here is how it works.

Press Release

Digital commenting now possible for readers of newspapers and magazines with Paperboy App

Access a virtual layer with readers’ comments on your smartphone as you read

Zurich, Switzerland (December 15, 2011) – Paperboy, the flagship app of Swiss start-up, kooaba, just added a new dimension to the way we experience print media. It’s now possible to directly participate in a real time discussion with other readers of a publication. Imagine a virtual layer where readers’ comments and reactions are presented for each page of more than a thousand different newspapers and magazines across the world. Readers can access this layer by just taking a picture of the page with their smartphone.

With this new function, kooaba Paperboy offers a great example of how useful augmented reality can be when applied to a real situation on a large scale. After taking a picture of a printed page, kooaba’s patented image recognition technology connects readers immediately to a corresponding mobile page. There readers can participate in the discussion about the content.

“With this we are one step closer to our vision of finding the perfect blend between print and digital. Paperboy has proven a valuable tool for publishers in order to remain competitive in the media industry.” claims Herbert Bay, CEO and co-founder of Kooaba. “As digital natives come of age and more and more consumers turn to the internet, the publishing industry needs to find ways to keep subscribers and attract new readers. Paperboy can help bridge the gap between print and online, substantially expanding and enhancing the reading experience.”

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Already over 1,000 publications worldwide work with Paperboy. Including The Washington Post, USA Today, The LA Times, The Chicago Tribune, New York Post, Toronto Star, The Vancouver Sun and 500 others in U.S. and Canada. The Daily Mail, The Guardian, The Daily Express, The Independent and 60 more in  the U.K. And also many more in other countries including but not limited to France, Germany, Switzerland, China, Russia and Japan. A complete list of publications can be found online. http://www.kooaba.com/en/products/paperboy_supported_content?country=US

Paperboy is free and available for iPhone and Android www.paperboytool.com.

How Paperboy works
Introduced in 2010, Paperboy connects printed media to the digital world with one click: All the application’s powerful image recognition technology needs is a photo taken by a smartphone camera of an article or page in a newspaper or magazine. Paperboy then matches the photo to the images in kooaba’s sizeable library of replicas of printed media. Users can then share, email or archive the electronic version on the go, anywhere, anytime or explore related information like videos, images or links to selected topics. Paperboy automatically finds URLs on pages of print publications. In some publications, exclusive Paperboy content is available for pages with the shutter icon. And now, readers can start the discussion and interact with each other on every page as well.

Paperboy – a business case
Paperboy allows publishers to offer their readers a new and enhanced reading experience, offering their loyal print readership the opportunity to take the printed newspaper to the digital world and sharing their favorite articles just as easily as any online content. Paperboy can help create compelling stories across media platforms by enriching articles with digital content, and at the same time, driving targeted traffic to a publisher’s online portals, generating a multiplier effect.

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Publishers can also open up new revenue streams by reselling Smart Ads, Kooaba’s solution for interactive advertisements, offering consumers an immersive brand experience with additional information, for example to support a buying decision, or possibilities for interaction, like reviews or competitions.

Useful information

About kooaba AG
kooaba AG, a Zurich based start-up company, was founded in 2006 as a spin-off from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich. Holding various patents, the company is a pioneer in sophisticated image recognition technology that connects the physical world to digital content and was the first to introduce mobile visual search. Its flagship product, Paperboy, is a mobile app that bridges the gap between the static printed newspaper format and dynamic online social sharing utilities. For more information visit www.kooaba.com.

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