More Using Smartphone to Get Magazines

There is increasing evidence of smartphone use in the U.S. overall and specifically for access to publications.  Recently, Affinity released the American Magazine Study, which said; ESPN the Magazine has more than 5 million smartphone visitors; People has almost 4 million; Sports Illustrated, WebMD the Magazine and TV Guide all have more than 3 million; TIME, Us Weekly and Entertainment Weekly have over 2 million; and Rolling Stone has over 1 million.

Google, with more than 150 publishing partners signed up, is launching an app for Android and Apple mobile devises.   Bonnier has four titles available through the venue, including Saveur, Popular Science, Transworld and Parenting.  CNET, AllThingsD, Forbes, Huffington Post and Fast Company are also “on board.” 

Separately, Zite, which is a free personalized news app for the iPad, is moving into the mobile market.

UPM Closing Ettringen PM 3

UPM is closing PM 3, a newsprint paper machine, at its Ettringen, Germany paper mill on December 14.

Online Holiday Spending Up 15%

comScore has reported holiday season retail e-commerce spending for the first 39 days of the November - December 2011 holiday season. For the holiday season-to-date, $24.6 billion has been spent online, marking a 15% increase versus the corresponding days last year.

Quad/Graphics Expands Service Footprint with Bluestem Brands

Quad/Graphics, Inc. has signed a multi-year agreement with Minneapolis-based Bluestem Brands, Inc., best known for its growing Fingerhut and Gettington.com brands.

Google Launches Currents App

Google makes another move into the content space, debuting its Google Currents app for Android and Apple mobile devices. The company launches its app with a long list of publishing partners (over 150 of them) on board, including CNET, AllThingsD, Forbes, Huffington Post and Fast Company, according to a Google blog post [1].

White Birch Closes Stradacona

The Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union (CEP) believed the closure of the White Birch Paper Stradacona newsprint mill in Quebec City is a lockout in disguise because the union was in the midst of negotiating a new contract.
However the judge sided with White Birch Paper and ruled that the temporary closure of the mill is for economic reasons. White Birch Paper followed through with their plan and the Stradacona mill closed on Friday, leaving 600 people out of work.