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Dar Al Hayats Releases Innovative iPhone App To Keep its Audience Up-to-Date
Thursday 10. March 2011 - Around the Clock, Around the Planet!
Dar Al Hayat, publisher of leading Pan-Arab daily newspaper, Al-Hayat, from centers in London, Beirut and KSA, a Saudi edition, Web sites and Laha magazine, has launched an innovative iPhone app on the Apple store, developed by KnowledgeView.
Choosing the best app offering is no easy task. But it is simple to find out why leading media companies like Dar Al Hayat (DAH) have opted for KnowledgeViews innovative iPhone technology.
Dar Al Hayat wanted while expanding reach, to also offer its audience scattered around the planet, the best features with an interactive digital news service at all times. Main features needed were:
Attractive design with branding Better views with customizable news channels of tagged stories Cutting edge technology for video rendering and pushing content directly from the Newsroom Definitely more revenues with advanced advertising scheme and subscrip- tion modules Exciting browsing experience allowing users to search, comment, share and add to favorites Off-line browsing
And the list goes on and on…
Dar Al Hayat is no stranger to innovation, being the first to publish digi- tally in 1986 working with KnowledgeView’s founders then, and later se- lecting the ‘Publish live’ publishing system in 2002. Dar Al Hayat (DAH), one of the leading KnowledgeViews clients, is always striving to offer the most advanced and comprehensive experience to the readers and web surfers.
Very much aware of the challenges and the fierce competition among me- dia conglomerates, DAH chose KnowledgeViews iPhone application that mirrors best the companys drive towards cutting edge technologies and constant communication with its audience base through the different channels they use round-the-clock.
The vision:
“DAH saw in this new emerging digital era an opportunity to expand reach and take advantage of the latest technology developments to accommo- date its new target base eager to receive up-to-the-minute news. We think that the new generation of readers is following solid and viable con- tent and not the vehicle that communicates this content, like it used to be in the last decades. “Al-Hayat” brand is well established in the Arab mar- ket and worldwide among the Arab diaspora, while tech consumers are becoming more familiar with online micro-payment. These two factors were taken into consideration when we thought of developing new re- sources and generate more revenues from paid content. We are aware that technology consumers are more friendly nowadays with “Google- stereotype” in terms of items display, search capabilities and advertising revenue schemes. DAH is willing to adopt this same philosophy”, Mr. Naji Tueni said, General Manager, Dar Al-Hayat for Distribution.
The decision:
“Once the management decision was taken to launch an iPhone applica- tion and a web mobile application, DAH turned to KnowledgeView as its main CMS developer and a pioneer in adapting and implementing new technologies and applications.”, he added.
The need:
“KnowledgeView took into consideration DAHs needs for an e-reader and a real-time publishing channel, hence developed both views in the iPhone app. We believe that the digital era has started since mobile and smart phone were continuously connected to the Internet. The consumers needs for up-to-the-minute news was a main criteria to decide how the applica- tion will be designed. This coincides with DAH’s launch of its new digital identity and logo that is reflected in the various digital applications and platforms under “Al-Hayat” brand”.
The offering:
“KnowledgeView fulfilled DAHs needs for a new concept with cutting-edge functionality like the offline browsing for users and tagging articles by the journalists as well as a powerful search engine. Two important interactive features were also included in the offering, allowing the news consumers to exchange opinions: commenting on stories and sharing articles by mail or social networks.
Customization was also a major concern by both DAH and KnowledgeView which was reflected in the design, colors, channels, language and display fonts specific to Al-Hayat brand” Mr. Tueni concluded.
KnowledgeViews iPhone applications offers media companies and content providers the opportunity to communicate with the eager iPhone holders, feeding them with multi-media premium services and making their mobile experience with every dedicated media brand a rich journey whether con- nected or not and an interactive virtual space to communicate with others.
KnowledgeViews native iPhone app: innovative, inventive and attractive. What else could you ask for?