PREMIUM STORE, A DIGITAL MAGICS STARTUP: PARTNER OF EDICOLA ITALIANA, THE PUBLISHERS’ PLATFORM FOR SALE OF DIGITAL NEWSPAPERS

PREMIUM STORE, A DIGITAL MAGICS STARTUP COMPANY: BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY PARTNER OF EDICOLA ITALIANA, THE PUBLISHERS’ PLATFORM  FOR THE SALE OF DIGITAL NEWSPAPERS AND MAGAZINES 

EDICOLA ITALIANA will be accessible through tablets, PCs and mobile devices. The digital display will feature newspapers, magazines and other products of associate publishers and provide full-text searching and handy one click purchasing options 

The Association “Consorzio Edicola Italiana” – founded by Caltagirone Editore, Il Sole 24 ORE, La Stampa, Gruppo Editoriale L’Espresso, Mondadori and RCS MediaGroup –  choose  Premium Store as technology and business partner. Premium Store is a startup of the incubator Digital Magics 

The Association is open to publishers willing to offer users the possibility to buy and read  digital press products through their own application or through the browser of EDICOLA ITALIANA

Milan, 16 December 2013 – Consorzio Edicola Italiana has entered into an exclusive agreement with Premium Store, a Digital Magics startup company. The scope of this agreement is the  development and commercial management of EDICOLA ITALIANA. In spring 2014, the responsive multi-platform technology, developed by Premium Store, will enable publishing products of associates to be available on tablets, PCs and mobile devices.

The platform is equipped with a secure and easy-to-use online shopping method: once you have entered your data, you can access the purchased products and buy new ones with just a few clicks.

Besides the automatic integration and access to the already existing applications of publishers, Premium Store has developed – for EDICOLA ITALIANA – an innovative and intuitive browser in HTML5 format, that can be used by publishers who do not have a digital version of their premium products.

An almost unique feature of EDICOLA ITALIANA is the possibility to search one or more keywords in full-text mode (all the words in each issue published) within newspapers and magazines displayed on the digital shelves.

Consorzio Edicola Italiana was founded by Caltagirone Editore, Gruppo 24 ORE, Gruppo Editoriale L’Espresso, La Stampa, Mondadori and RCS MediaGroup in order to allow users to buy and read online newspapers and magazines, or subscribe to their favourite newspapers and magazines in digital format. Consorzio Edicola Italiana is open to all publishers of newspapers and magazines wishing to become members. Fabrizio Carotti – CEO of the Italian Federation of Newspaper Publishers (Federazione Italiana Editori Giornali) – is Chairman of Consorzio Edicola Italiana.

Premium Store, established in 2012, is a startup incubated, financed and controlled by Digital Magics. Digital Magics is a certified innovative startup venture incubator, listed on AIM Italia of Italian Stock Exchange (Borsa Italiana. Ticker: DM).

The agreement between Premium Store and Consorzio Edicola Italiana encompasses the possibility to enlarge the shareholding structure with additional seed funding rounds to support the business plan. Digital Magics has committed not to transfer share capital ownership for the first 18 months. Subsequently, Consorzio Edicola Italiana shall have right of pre-emption, should the company be sold. The exclusive agreement shall have a duration of 3 years.

“Italian publishers are aware that digital innovation is where the future of the information industry lies and the initiative of EDICOLA ITALIANA is a first step in the right direction”, said Fabrizio Carotti, Chairman of Consorzio Edicola Italiana. “Within a global context, where individual providers deliver digital press content distribution services at very expensive prices, it is important to highlight how Italian publishers are ready to actively collaborate and are now offering  alternatives boasting equal technology quality and user-friendliness”.

“We have developed a highly advanced platform that will enable users to easily access premium contents and enjoy a new, unique experience”, said Alberto Fioravanti, partner of Digital Magics and CEO of Premium Store. “With our innovative platform, it will be possible to search, buy and view the digital contents of publishers in one single web store, with just one click. The website of EDICOLA ITALIANA will be available online within the next few months: we are currently implementing and fine-tuning the payment system; moreover, in addition to newspapers and magazines, we will enrich the platform with e-books and other relevant products”.

This press release is available online on www.digitalmagics.com in the Investor Relations section.

 

Premium Store

Premium Store is a startup of the venture incubator Digital Magics. Following  the exclusive agreement with Consorzio Edicola Italiana – founded by Caltagirone Editore,Gruppo 24 ORE, Gruppo Editoriale L’Espresso, La Stampa, Mondadori and RCS MediaGroup – Premium Store has been developing and will manage EDICOLA ITALIANA: the online newstand of the Italian premium publishing  industry. A platform where users can search, choose, view and purchase newspapers and magazines from any device in HTML5 format. Within the online newsstand of Italian publishers, Premium Store integrates a comprehensive payment system, alongside the option to connect to the publishers’ legacy apps. The Premium Store state-of-the art technology will allow digital readers to carry out full text searches on all the editorial contents of publishers who have joined the Association and that will be online inside the kiosk.

Integrae SIM acts as Nomad and Specialist under AIM Italia Rules for Companies (Regolamento Emittenti AIM Italia). For the transmission of communications Digital Magics uses the SDIR-NIS circuit, managed by BIt Market Services, a company of the London Stock Exchange Group.

For further information:

Digital Magics – Press Office

Giorgio Bocchieri – Mail: giorgio.bocchieri@digitalmagics.com

Tel. 02 52505202 – Mob. 334 6853078

Burson-Marsteller – Digital Magics Press Office

Fabio Caporizzi – Mail: fabio.caporizzi@bm.com – Mob. 340 5250566

Rossana Pastore – Mail: rossana.pastore@bm.com – Mob. 340 1790470

Luca Fumagalli – Mail: luca.fumagalli@bm.com – Mob. 348 4586948

Integrae SIM –  Nomad

Luca Di Liddo  – Mail: luca.diliddo@integraesim.it

Tel. 02 78625300 – Mob. 334 6501346