HBO Max exec admits to the app’s early flaws

Viewers have long complained about the early HBO Max app’s tendency to crash, and its lack of discoverability features. There have been a number of overhauls and fixes since then. Now we know why. Turns out that HBO Max launched its apps before they were ready in order to keep up with its competitors. The app was “never intended to go global” or to suit the needs of a direct-to-consumer market, according to an interview that Sarah Lyons, HBO Max’s head of product experience, gave Protocol. The network wanted to build an audience first, and then fix the app’s flaws as the service scaled up.While Lyons admits that the early days of HBO Max were rocky, she thinks the company made the right decision. We’ve been changing out the engine of the plane while we’re flying the plane,” she said. “I do think it was the right decision to try to balance both,” said Lyons.HBO Max first released its app in May 2020, to join an already saturated streaming ecosystem that included Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, Apple TV+ and others. At the time, both HBO Go (the network’s on-demand app for cable subscribers) and HBO Now (the standalone app for cord-cutters) were still available, a fact that confused many subscribers. The network has since retired both apps.Viewers have flocked to Reddit since the app’s initial launch with complaints that spanned platforms and devices. “We’ve been trying to watch the Harry Potter movies and literally every 15 min or so we get an ERROR message and have to force close... Continue reading at 'Engadget'

[ Engadget | 2022-04-14 23:32:58 UTC ]
News tagged with: #apple tv+ #streaming platforms #home page #biggest change #harry potter

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Digital Publishing: Mobile vs. App is the Wrong Question

In January, CNN announced staggering growth in the number of users accessing their content on mobile devices. For 2013, the company averaged 30 million monthly unique visitors on mobile, an increase of 40 percent over 2012.     ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher

[ Editor & Publisher | 2014-03-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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This Week in Children's Apps: March 13, 2014

This week in children's apps, we feature two new Berenstain Bears apps, a noisy Little Critter app, and another app that takes users on a prehistoric adventure. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-03-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Cupcake Digital Acquires zuuka and Its iStorytime Library App

Cupcake Digital, a developer of enhanced ebook apps sold through the major app distributors, has purchased zuuka, developer of the iStorytime library app featuring narrated children’s storybooks. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-03-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Ex-New York Times Writer Develops An App To Get Busy People Reading More

In Dickens's day, serialized novels were all the rage. Rooster aims to revive that trend, making it easier than ever to find good books (and the time to read them).In the age of abbrevs., sitting down to read a novel can feel like gearing up for a marathon, no matter how much you love books. The... Continue reading at Fast Company

[ Fast Company | 2014-03-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Plympton/DailyLit Debuts Rooster App at SXSW

Plympton/DailyLit, a digital reading venture focused on serialized content, is launching Rooster, a reading app that picks books for its users to read and delivers them in installments to mobile devices for $4.99 a month. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-03-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Book That Lies Behind The Success Of HBO's "True Detective"

HBO's hit new show has catapulted a 100-year-old short-story collection onto the bestseller lists.A collection of strange art nouveau stories by American author Robert W. Chambers, The King in Yellow has gone virtually unread for most of the past century. The first half of the book is made up of... Continue reading at Fast Company

[ Fast Company | 2014-03-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Learnist Releases App, Debuts Digital Bookstore

Learnist, an online social learning venture and application, is releasing a new iOS app for mobile devices and launching the Learnist Digital Bookstore, which will sell premium content from a selection of well-known experts and celebrities. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-02-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Bodice-ripping Mills & Boon novels? There's an app for that

Publisher Harlequin launches new ebook reader app for iPhone and iPad, tying into its existing website. By Stuart DredgeStuart Dredge Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2014-02-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Major New Arabic Ebookstore Seeing Early Success

Kotobi.com, a major new Arabic ebookstore launched at this year's Cairo Book Fair, has potential to be a gamechanger for publishing in the region. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2014-02-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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VIDEO: Actor's app on Kubrick film

Mathew Modine says books will never fully replace computer apps, as he releases a book app about the making of a famous film. Continue reading at BBC World

[ BBC World | 2014-02-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Rakuten to buy Internet messaging app Viber for $900 million

Japan’s Rakuten will acquire instant messaging and calling app developer Viber Media for US$900 million, the e-commerce giant said Friday, highlighting its moves to penetrate new markets.Rakuten’s purchase of the messaging and VoIP company follows its acquisitions of Canada’s ebook platform... Continue reading at PC World

[ PC World | 2014-02-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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This Week in Children's Apps: February 13, 2014

This week in children's apps, we feature one app that allows kids to travel the world with an international adventurer, two apps that explore the world of the dinosaurs, and another that takes users for a ride with a very famous cat. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-02-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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VSCO Cam app for iOS adds more 'community' features in a bid to take on Instagram

The VSCO Cam app has developed a pretty dedicated following of serious mobile photographers. Over the summer Visual Supply Co. even unveiled a minimalist publishing platform called VSCO Grid. But ties between the two were... let's say, weak. An... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2014-02-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Marvel, iVerse Team to Offer Global Comics App

Marvel Entertainment and digital comics vendor iVerse have launched the Marvel Global Comics App, allowing readers to get Marvel digital comics in twelve foreign languages. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-02-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Microsoft working on Kindle-like Xbox reading app for Windows 8

Microsoft's getting ready to follow Amazon, Apple, and Google into the reading game with an app for Windows to peruse ebooks, magazines, and comics. The new app appears be part of Microsoft's cross-platform Xbox entertainment services, which currently include Xbox Music and Video. Microsoft... Continue reading at PC World

[ PC World | 2014-02-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Native vs Cross-Platform Apps – What’s Better for Digital Newspapers?

2 years ago it was "nice to have" a mobile strategy for large and medium-sized companies. But today the reality is that a mobile strategy is a must-have for all businesses of all sizes. And the publishing industry is no exception.  Toda ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher

[ Editor & Publisher | 2014-02-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Scribd launches Kindle Fire app

Book subscription service Scribd has launched a new app for the Kindle Fire. The app, which can... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2014-01-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Anomaly Productions Releases 'Shifter' Book App

Anomaly Productions, an indie comics publisher specializing in digitally enhanced graphic novels, has released an app version of "Shifter," a sci-fi graphic novel with augmented reality technology. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-01-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Scribd Offers Kindle Fire App, iOS, Android Updates

The recently launched Scribd subscription ebook service is adding an app for the Kindle Fire tablet as well as providing updates to its iOS and Android apps. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-01-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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