Earlier this year, ebrary (a company dedicated to making ebooks available to libraries and researchers) launched its own branded iOS app to enable reading on compatible devices. Today, ebrary issued a press release regarding its creation of an Android app to meet the needs of the millions of Android device users.
“There are an estimated 300 million active Android smartphones and tablets worldwide, with 850,000 devices activated daily. Android has proven popular among the students, staff, and faculty who use ebrary for their research,” said Matt Barnes, ebrary’s Vice President of Marketing in the press release. “The launch of our Android app is a direct response to the many requests we’ve received from users who want a way to utilize scholarly e-books from trusted publishers on the device of their choice.”
With the growth of Android powered devices and the popularity of tablets such as the Kindle Fire and the Nook tablet, whose app marketplaces give Amazon and Barnes and Noble customers a centralized location for finding apps, ebrary’s response to the Android market is well-timed and the distributor joins an ever-growing list of companies who are working in both the iOS and Android platforms. The list of ebrary titles includes over 750,000 ebooks through Academic Complete as well as content uploaded by member libraries.
ebrary’s Android app allows for online and offline reading, a benefit that more and more companies are working toward in order to give consumers the option of downloading content prior to entering areas of low coverage. It also includes seamless downloading of full titles and simple and advanced search options, multiple navigation controls, and enabled tables of contents with relevancy rankings.
Mercy Pilkington is a Senior Editor for Good e-Reader. She is also the CEO and founder of a hybrid publishing and consulting company.
