In February of this year, Berlin-based two-year startup Readmill launched its e-reading app for iOS and was met with such response that the team decided an Android app was needed. Moreover, after getting feedback on how Readmill users–and staffers–were using the app, the developers decided that an app that was optimized for smartphone reading was in order as well.
Readmill co-founder and CPO David Kjelkerud said in a press release today: “After releasing our iPhone app back in February, we discovered something really interesting about reading behavior. First, we noticed it in the office: our tablets collected dust as people started reading more on their phones. The phone is simply more convenient. You always have all your books with you, and with the new high-resolution mobile screens, the typography is really great. Later, we started to see this in our numbers as well: People reading with our iPhone app are much more engaged, are reading more books and read more frequently. That’s why we decided to bring Readmill to Android.”
Some of the features of the Readmill for Android app include the ability to start and finish titles entirely in offline mode while still letting the location in the book sync through the Readmill app when wifi becomes available, the ability to important titles from the library of another reading app, and the option to start reading or simply browse with the swipe of a finger.
Readmill also announced today that it has forged two new partnerships to provide reading content: with popular romance ebook site All Romance and German publisher Holtzbrinck’s self-publishing platform, Epubli. While Readmill for Android was built specifically with smartphone reading in mind, it will work on any device running Android 4.0 or higher. The app is available starting today from the Google Play store or Amazon app market.
Mercy Pilkington is a Senior Editor for Good e-Reader. She is also the CEO and founder of a hybrid publishing and consulting company.