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Frankfurt Book Fair 2012
New Zealand's literature and culture will be the centre of attention for the international publishing industry and media, and Kiwa Media will be there... read more.
AMP Business: Kiwa Media attracts Chinese investment
App maker Kiwa Media has attracted NZ-based Chinese businesswoman Xiaoying Fu.
AMP Business: Kiwa Media attracts Chinese investment (3:18)
Kiwa at World Summit Awards
The New Zealand finalists for the World Summit Awards (WSA) have been selected and will compete in the global Awards in April in Hong Kong... Kiwa Media is among them as the winner of the e-learning and Education category. read more
Digital books more than child's play
Auckland firm Kiwa Media says it has backed a winner 18 months after taking a punt on the new digital publishing market.
The eight-person company converts print books into QBooks – interactive digital colour books for touchscreen devices such as the iPad and iPhone.
President Rhonda Kite says the company began as a post-production software and solutions firm but QBooks will soon become 100 per cent of its business.
QBook - Just how far can it go?
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| Kiwa International Creative Director Derek Judge showcases the New Zealand company's QBook at the Hong Kong Book Fair |
The QBook takes traditional children’s books and presents them in a colourful “interactive touch-enabled digital format.” The result is a book in a multi-language, e-reader-ready format that allows children to read, listen, draw and even narrate the story themselves.
Mr Judge said he was constantly amazed at how quickly children were adapting to the technological advances. “The kids are so fast,’’ he says. “Show them once, and it immediately sinks in while their parents are sometimes still scratching their heads.’’
The main challenge ahead for the digital publishing industry, he said, was in finding out just how far it could go. Kiwa, for example, was originally focused on animation for television and film but recognised how the talent of its team could be channeled into developing e-book apps.
“The more you explore, the more you realise what can be done,’’ he said. “Pretty much any form of media can be adapted and introduced to these new formats.’’
But Mr Judge said the entire industry was still on a steep learning curve. “We are all learning as we go,’’ he said. His advice to anyone wanting to enter the market was simple. “Don’t be afraid,’’ he said. “Just get to work.’’
Digital publishing took centre stage at this year’s Book Fair. Speakers at the Asian Publishing Conference focused on how such developments were affecting the industry, and the “eBooks and Digital Publishing’’ pavilion was popular with fairgoers.
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CNN Brings You QBook Live From Hong Kong
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Kiwa Media of New Zealand, sells QBooks, interactive children's books that can be downloaded onto the iPad (which was launched this week in Hong Kong), iPhone and iPod Touch.
Derek Judge, creative director for Kiwa, demonstrated how a child can "read" a book on an iPad. He opened up a digital children's book titled "Milly, Molly and the Bike Ride." There's a drop down language menu which gives you the options of English, Chinese, Spanish or Italian. He selected Chinese for text and narration. All of the text turned into Chinese characters.
When he put a finger on one character, a computerized voice pronounced that word in Chinese. There's also a color palette from which a child can choose colors to fingerpaint the story's images on the touchscreen.
Hairy Maclary debuts at #1 on iPad chart
Penguin Group NZ in partnership with New Zealand company Kiwa Media is delighted to announce that the QBook of Lynley Dodd’s iconic bestseller Hairy Maclary from Donaldson's Dairy has reached #1 on the iTunes App Store books chart in New Zealand since its release last Friday.
This celebrated children’s classic, from a series that has sold over 6.5m copies worldwide, is about to reach a new generation of readers. The QBook revolution offers young readers a new way to experience their favourite books on the iPad. This format has some unique features including touchable text and the ability to colour-in each page.
"I am very excited by this marvellous new development for Hairy Maclary. The possibilities are endless. I can’t wait to show it to my two granddaughters."
- Lynley Dodd
QBook Grabs Attention From The New York Times
From the New York Times:
Kiwa Media, a New Zealand company, was showing QBook, an iPad application that converts children’s print books into multilingual, interactive digital versions.
Rhonda Kite, a company representative, clicked a screen with colorful cartoon characters to gain access to a pull-down menu offering English, Mandarin, Spanish, Italian and other languages. The text is automatically translated.
Readers can point at a written word and have the machine pronounce it. They can also use their fingers to color in the books’ illustrations.
“It’s very exciting,” said Ms. Kite, who added that it was her first time at the Hong Kong Book Fair. “Almost a million people will walk through these doors, and the entire population of my country is only four million.”
Read full article here: The New York Times
Kiwa launches Chinese language eBooks on iPad
First Chinese QBook launched at the Hong Kong Book Fair on July 21st
The addition of Chinese Mandarin translation to Milly, Molly and the Bike Ride HD and Zoo You Later - Monkey Business follows the recent releases of QBooks in Japanese.
The New Zealand-based company responsible has already been selected in the British press for producing one of the best iPad Apps when it comes to kids eBooks. The touch enabled digital format known as QBook, is available through iTunes and is available in English, Chinese, Japanese, Italian, French, Portugese, Spanish and German with many more languages coming.
Writing for the iPad
Will the iPad change the way we read – and who makes a living from writing? Mark Iles talks to Kiwa Media to find out.
Kiwa Media are an award winning media company based in New Zealand, developing iPhone/iPod Touch and iPad Apps, digital content for books, film, TV and the mobile music industry. The company has seen rapid growth since Apple launched the iPad, opening offices in America principally to service the Latin American market, and another in Bristol to deal with the UK market before moving on to the rest of Europe. Things are looking very good indeed for them. But are the opportunities as good for us writers?
