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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Amazon's new China app store could help pave way for Kindle products

Amazon.com has updated its mobile app store to include support for its Chinese customers, in a sign that the U.S. company could be preparing to sell its Kindle e-readers and tablets in the country.The update effectively launches a new version of Amazon's app store built in the Chinese language.... Continue reading at PC World

[ PC World | 2013-05-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #immediately respond #official sales #mark natkin #chinese consumers #overseas markets


Comma launches free lit app Gimbal

Not-for-profit publisher Comma Press has produced a free app aimed at helping commuters escape... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2013-04-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Wikimedia Android and iOS app exits beta, aims for easy Wikipedia photo gathering

Wikimedia Commons, which acts as Wikipedia's media repository, has pushed its Android and iOS app out of the beta phase, giving photo collecting for the digital encyclopedia a workflow that isn't chained to a browser. By registering an account online and wielding the software, users can upload... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2013-04-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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New York Times' Google Glass App Reads Stories to You

The New York Times is one of the initial major publishers to unveil a Google Glass app, which will allow the currently scant number of users of the wearable device to access stories on the go. The app's audio component reads headlines and story summaries aloud and provides breaking news alerts. ... Continue reading at AdWeek

[ AdWeek | 2013-04-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #google glass


Discover A Foreign City Through Its Fiction Via New Gimbal App

The new Gimbal app, launching Tuesday at the London Book Fair, features translated short stories for commuters that allows you to explore a city through fiction. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-04-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Chat app takes on ebook retailers, Amazon with manga comics service

Line, the popular messaging platform based in Japan, is challenging ebook vendors like Amazon and Rakuten with a new service to download and view manga, or Japanese comic books. The company has launched "Line Manga," a mobile app for Android and iOS phones. Line's initial offering consists of... Continue reading at PC World

[ PC World | 2013-04-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #wide range #consumer groups #key part #third-party apps #growing suite


Snapplify: Custom Publishing Apps Out of Africa

South Africa is making itself known as a home for digital startups. Among the hottest is Snapplify, a digital publishing solutions provider with a growing global profile. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-04-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #south africa #digital startups


Zinio magazine app heads to Windows Phone 8 as a Lumia exclusive

Zinio's magazine app for tablets and smartphones has already found its way onto quite a few platforms (even some now-defunct ones), and it looks like it'll soon be heading to yet another -- at least partially. The company announced today that its Windows Phone 8 app will be available in the... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2013-03-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #windows phone #multiple sources #make reading


Bloomsbury offers app translation rights

Bloomsbury Children’s was selling translation rights in apps for the first time at this... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2013-03-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #bloomsbury children


Almanac app to chart Gaiman's huge 2013

Neil Gaiman looks set to be one of the busiest authors of 2013, with a host of book publications... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2013-03-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #neil gaiman #book publications


Caffeine Nights launches free sampling app

Independent publisher Caffeine Nights is making two chapters of every one of its books free to... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2013-03-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Google Play Books comes to India with an updated Android app in tow

Google Play Books has been on a slow world tour that hasn't given Asia much love. Google is addressing that regional deficit in grand fashion today by launching its digital bookshop in India. The collection includes the expected blend of local and international titles, although the Books... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2013-02-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #international titles #content strategy #source link


PSA: Kindle iOS app users should not update to version 3.6.1

This one's coming straight from the horse's mouth. Amazon is acknowledging a "known issue" with version 3.6.1 of its Kindle app for iOS -- the company is recommending that current users avoid the latest update, which hit the App Store today. According to TUAW, the new version may completely... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2013-02-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #ll find


European Publisher Axel Springer Acquires Second Screen App TunedIn

TunedIn Media, the German company behind the second screen “social TV’ app TunedIn, has been acquired by European publishing giant Axel Springer. The amount isn’t being disclosed, so it’s unlikely to be a home ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher

[ Editor & Publisher | 2013-02-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #german company


Goble admits Bertrams fraud

Graham Goble, former head of international sales at Bertrams, has admitted defrauding the company... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2013-02-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #international sales


With New Plan, APP Works to Win Back Customers

After announcing in early February that it had discontinued sourcing paper from threatened Indonesian rainforests, a representative of Singapore-based Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) was at the International Toy Fair Show in New York last week to explain the policy to toy companies and children’s... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2013-02-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #early february #toy companies #book publishers


Penguin produces app of Anne Frank's Diary

Penguin has released a digital version of Anne Frank's famous diary, with Penguin imprint... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2013-01-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #penguin imprint #anne frank #digital version


Love Haruki Murakami? There’s An App For That

In the UK, Vintage Books and Aimer Media have launched a Haruki Murakami inspired diary app for Apple devices. The "Murakami Diary" offers 6 new exclusive short stories for £1.99. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-01-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #vintage books #aimer media #apple devices


Rodale hires Condé Nast exec as first CTO

Yet another sign that the media world marches toward digital is at Rodale. In a move to expand the healthy lifestyle publisher's mobile commerce, big data and social technologies, it has hired Condé Nast executive Bobby Chowdhury as its first ever chief technology officer.Mr. Chowdhury, 51, has... Continue reading at Crains New York

[ Crains New York | 2013-01-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #general manager #brand development #strategic vision #media companies #report directly #nook division


The Predecessor To Google Books, Facebook Graph Search, And Rewind.me--In The Early 1900s

You want an idea to survive hundreds or thousands of years? Step one: Don’t write it on paper. Alexander Konta believed this deeply. Paper yellows and withers and crumbles; it is the printed form of Alzheimer’s. “Why not make [text] imperishable by photographing the written word after it has... Continue reading at Fast Company

[ Fast Company | 2013-01-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #york observer #group called #living history