Black Enterprise Launches iPad App

Today Black Enterprise unveiled its new iPad app, the BLACK ENTERPRISE magazine app for iPad. With the launch, Black Enterprise becomes the first African-American-owned and operated publication to provide content through the iPad. The app is running on a subscription-based model with users paying $1.99 for each issue. However, Black Enterprise is offering it’s 40^th Anniversary Collectors Edition issue to users for free along with the Best Companies for Diversity issue. In addition to the magazine content, iPad users can expect a wealth of interactive content including:

• Exclusive content not found in the printed edition with initial video offerings from trailblazers Robert Johnson, R. Donohue Peebles, Richard “Dick” Parsons, Michael Lee-Chin, Ursula Burns, Don Barden, Russell Simmons and Tyler Perry.
• Video clips from Our World with Black Enterprise, Black Enterprise Business Report, and multimedia Wealth for Life content from our award-winning editorial team
• Games, graphs and charts that bring pages to life
• Reader accounts that give users the ability to sign-in to custom accounts, allowing them to share, bookmark and reference personal notes.

“Our mission to uplift African Americans by building on the cornerstones of economic empowerment has never been more vital.  We’ve organized our Black Enterprise app to specifically give users the most valuable, proprietary information wherever and whenever they need it—offering the tools to achieve business and career success in record time. Our iPad app truly takes Wealth for Life to the next level” said President & CEO Earl “Butch” Graves Jr.

While the app was designed  internally, Black Enterprise partnered with f2f | 6Sixty digital for the technical aspects of the app. In addition to partnering with f2f | 6Sixty digital, Black Enterprise has also teamed with Toyota who is the inaugural launch sponsor of the app.

“Exploring new platforms to communicate with our consumers is a core tenet here at Toyota.  This is very much in line with Toyota’s strategy to communicate with consumers in cutting edge environments that complements our leadership in technology and innovation,” commented Dionne Colvin, Manager, National Media for Toyota USA.

The app is currently available for download.  Black Web 2.0 has written numerous articles about African-American print publications better leveraging the Web as well as the need for publications to embrace apps as part of their media strategy. If you’re an iPad owner, will you be downloading this app? Why or why not? Please share your thoughts in the comments section.

About the Author
Sherri is a freelance writer that has a love of all things fun and geeky including gadgets, gaming, anime, and comics. When she isn't writing or out on the town living it up, she loves doing 10-12 hour marathon sessions on her Xbox 360 or one of her older consoles. It's not an addiction, it's a way of life!
See all posts by Sherri L. Smith.