A Century City tech company is already benefiting from news of Apple Inc.’s latest iPhone, and the device hasn’t even hit stores.
Apple announced last week that the operating system for its new phone will come with an application called Newsstand that will feature subscription access to popular periodicals. Since then, PixelMags, which creates software to deliver digital versions of magazines and catalogs, has gotten calls from nearly 200 potential customers.
Because the Newsstand application will make it easier for consumers to subscribe to newspapers and magazines, more publishers are looking to create digital versions of their periodicals, said Ryan Marquis, co-founder and chief operating officer of PixelMags.
“We actually had our biggest lead-generation day ever in the history of PixelMags,” Marquis said.
The company’s software turns a print magazine into a digital publication with links, imbedded video and slideshows. It also gives subscribers access to the latest edition of a magazine, say Cosmopolitan, as soon as the publication is released.
With the Newsstand app, readers don’t have to clutter their devices with icons for all their publications. Plus they can use it to sign up for automatic subscription renewals.
PixelMags clients include Hearst’s U.K. publications, Runner’s World and Health & Fitness. It also works with companies such as Crate & Barrel and Restoration Hardware to digitally publish their seasonal catalogs.
The 27-person company charges publishers an upfront fee of less than $1,000, and then a monthly fee that ranges between $175 and $600 depending on the features that the publisher wants and other factors.
Marquis co-founded PixelMags in 2009 with Mark Stubbs, the company’s chief executive. The market for the product took off with the release of the iPad in 2010.
“When the iPad hit, our business pretty much quadrupled,” Marquis said. “Our business just absolutely erupted as far as consumer adoption of downloading magazines.”
Marquis expects PixelMags’ business to see a similar jump when Apple releases the Newsstand application Oct. 14.
“It’s going to be huge,” he said of Newsstand. “Apple sells its content to 200 million users. It’s going to be one of the biggest newsstands in the world.”
Content Shift
Demand Media Inc. is making a shift. The Santa Monica company’s how-to website eHow.com has added a channel called Shift. Instead of giving eHow-style step-by-step directions for, say, fixing a sink, the site will feature inspirational stories of successful women.
Shift has selected 100 women to introduce to its readers, including tech blogger Kara Swisher and political commentator Rachel Maddow. Author and entrepreneur Victoria Colligan and a team of writers will write for the site, which includes blog posts, interviews and videos that share the experiences of women.
“Shift is really the way that we’re extending the eHow brand from more information-based content to really an inspiration-based experience,” said Erika Nardini, senior vice president of market development.
EHow operates six other channels devoted to topics such as style, family and health. It recently announced a partnership with Rachael Ray for its food channel.
Women make up more than half of eHow’s audience, Nardini said. The company wanted to find a way to connect with them beyond the how-to content.
“That’s an audience we wanted to invest in and provide solutions for,” she said.
EHow is one of many websites that Demand Media operates. Others include health and fitness website LiveStrong.com, and fashion and beauty site TypeF.com.
Demand recently redesigned LiveStrong, separating content for men and women into different categories so that articles would reach a more targeted audience.
“We want to create experiences that are really personal and also very specific,” Nardini said.
Powerful Money
Contour Energy Systems Inc., an Azusa developer of battery systems, announced last week that it has raised more than $20 million in a recent funding round.
The round was led by Singapore investment firm EDBI and new investor SBI Jefferies Asia Fund LP. Previous investors include Menlo Park’s U.S. Venture Partners and San Francisco’s CMEA Capital.
The money will be used to expand Contour’s production capacity, support projected sales growth, and increase research and development in high-powered batteries.
“We now have one of the industry’s most elite corps of investors and substantial new capital to accelerate our ambitious technology and product development initiatives,” said Joe Fisher, Contour’s chief executive, in a statement.
Contour was started at Caltech and spun out of the university in 2007. Its rechargeable batteries are used in the industrial, military and medical industries.
Staff reporter Natalie Jarvey can be reached at [email protected] or at (323) 549-5225, ext. 230.
