QMags.com To Deliver Electronic Copies of Magazines Online

Posted on June 6, 2001

qMags.com, a subsidiary of Qiosk.com, Inc. -- founded in 1999 to deliver printed magazines over the Internet -- announced that Hearst's Popular Mechanics, Crain's Ad Age Global, and CMP have contracted for the service, which is ready to launch this month. The company is currently in negotiations with 16 other publishers. Competitors of qMags.com include Newsstand, Inc., which just recently signed up the Harvard Business Review for electronic distribution.

The qMags editions will be delivered directly to readers and will include all illustrations and advertisements plus embedded enhancements. These include audio and video clips as well as hyperlinks to related editorial and advertising sites. The electronic editions will also be fully searchable and archivable.

Customers can buy subscriptions, single copies (current or archived), and individual articles online for immediate delivery via the Internet. Controlled circulation titles will also be available. The required software for viewing qMags editions, Adobe Acrobat Reader and Apple Quick Time Player, are available as free downloads.

Richard Seet, president of Qiosk.com, Inc. said in a statement, "Our goal is to revolutionize the industry by serving as a bridge to the future of magazine publishing. We see qMags.com as a win-win-win. Publishers win by offsetting rising paper and postage costs and creating profitable new revenue streams. Advertisers win by truly taking advantage of convergence, seamlessly integrating web, print, television, and radio campaigns. And readers win with qMags' added functionality including searchability, hyperlinks, and multimedia capabilities."

Other Qiosk.com, Inc. executives include Dan Schwartz, chairman and publisher of Asian Venture Capital Journal and M&A Asia; Richard Seet, president, and former principal of the Carlyle Group; and Patrick Kenny, senior vice president consumer marketing and publisher services, former Reader's Digest vice president of global circulation.