Bil Magasinet for the iPad

The Danish car magazine Bil Magasinet made its debut on the iPad earlier this month and the second issue is due out shortly. Bil Magasinet for the iPad is built using the Mag+ platform - the second magazine in Denmark to do so.

Bil Magasinet's iPad-version offers readers extras that the print magazine can't offer, says Mikkel Thomsager, editor-in-chief for the magazine, which is published by Benjamin Media. "There are several strong points in particular," he says. "The presentation of the pictures is outstanding, the opportunity to include video directly in the articles makes them so much more relevant, and it gives Danes outside Denmark a unique chance to get the magazine wherever they are, for the same price as the print magazine."

Producing the iPad content proved easier than Thomsager expected, and it has been great fun, he says. But marketing is the biggest challenge at the moment. "It is difficult to hit the few iPad owners in the world who have an interest in Bil Magasinet content," says Thomsager "We are sure they're there, we just need to make them aware of it." Advertising the iPad version in the print magazine only does part of the job, and it is difficult or just plain expensive and not profitable to do a campaign that will cover just a percentage of the potential buyers, he says.

But Thomsager is proud of the product - he says the pictures in particular are fantastic on the iPad screen. "So far we've had nothing but applause," says Thomsager.

You can download the app at Apple's App Store here.