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RSS feedsThe global science publication has launched its iPhone application (app) for users of iPhone, iPod Touch and even the newly launched iPad.
Starting today, the app is available in the iPhone App Store and on Nature’s website for free until April 30, 2010. Users will need to be registered on nature.com, NPG’s publishing platform.
Nature Publishing Group (NPG) will be producing EPUB files that can be read using Apple’s iBooks and other e-readers. Besides, an application for devices using Android is expected to be available within the next few months.
Users can read full text articles immediately or save them for later, search nature.com, set up saved searches, or browse the latest news and research. To ensure that research papers and news articles are truly readable on the iPhone, the app has features such as high resolution, zoom-able figures, and a special references view.
The nature.com mobile app also enables users to keep up with the latest relevant abstracts from PubMed, the widely-used search interface that provides access to over 11 million journal citations and contains links to full-text articles.
“The mobile app makes it easy to keep abreast of the latest in science news and research,” says Dan Pollock, associate director for Nature.com. “We wish to find out more about how people use their mobile devices to search and read scientific papers and news.”
Nature will further upgrade its functionality later this year and offer personal and institutional pricing options. NPG will be trialing site license access with selected institutional customers and subsequently roll out access to other Nature branded journals and publications available on nature.com, including Scientific American.
NPG aims at enabling optimised content delivery options for mobile and e-reader devices. The open e-book standard, EPUB enables text display to be optimised for a particular display device.
The file format is compatible with the Sony eReader and many other e-readers, phones and devices using Android, the iPhone and iPod Touch, the publisher confirmed.
