German publishing house Axel Springer has made its popular weekly car and motoring title AUTO BILD available as an iPad app, enabling owners of the Apple device to peruse all contents, plus bonus audio, video and slideshow features, before the print version of the magazine hits the newsstands.

Working in conjunction with Hamburg-based digital specialist ProPublish, Axel Springer’s New Media Car, Computer and Sport team used WoodWing’s Digital Magazine Tools solution to digitise the contents of the print magazine, which normally reaches around 40m readers each month. In addition to the audio and video features, the team took advantage of the iPad’s HTML5 capabilities to increase reader interaction, by including the magazine’s weekly crossword in the app, and adding a ‘Car Configurator’ function, which allows readers to design their own dream car.

According to WoodWing, more than 50 apps and 350 digital versions of print publications have been launched by international publishers, using the company’s Digital Magazine Tools offering.

Patrick Natasadu, sales manager at ProPublish, which is approved as a WoodWing Gold Authorized Solution Partner, says: “Given the wide range of diverse types of content, from long articles with a variety of photos, to comprehensive market overviews, the design of the iPad app of AUTO BILD was a challenging project. The timeframe was very tight, since the app had to be available at the [October 2010] Paris Motor Show. We are pleased that, together with the AUTO BILD team, we were able to achieve that very impressive result.”
The latest iPad app edition of AUTO BILD is published each Thursday evening.