WPE16 a quick way to do business in Vienna

Oct 12, 2016 at 03:06 pm by Staff


Fast apps and fast cars were the attention-getters at WAN-Ifra's World Publishing Expo in Vienna this week.

First, a 1960s VW Karmann Ghia beautiful enough to make Jeremy Clarkson's eyes water was the big draw at Visioink and the pride and joy of its chief executive, Jens Funder Berg (pictured).

And on the stands of the digital systems vendors that dominated the show, fast mobile apps and browser-based GUIs were the raison d'etre for many of the visitors.

CCI Europe had a smart new interface to its NewsGate and Escenic products, capable of also integrating third-party applications. Designed to allow journalists to do more with less effort, Cue is out with early adopters, with a first full release due next month.

It was one of seven new products at CCI and of many more to be seen around the aisles. Atex, for example, had its focus on a suite of products including a new lighter cloud-enabled system and user interfaces that front the core CMS infrastructure it introduced last year. ACT is also being developed with a handful of customers prior to full release, and looks like a great aid to multimedia storytelling.

Newscycle brought its new Mobile suite to the show, along with a range of other products. ProtecMedia showed updated versions of its web CMS and new features to readily present engagement statistics to content producers. More on these new products to follow.

And on the same theme, the Kiwi founder of Helsinki-based EzyInsights showed a new dashboard to identify stories as they started trending, recently taken by Australia's Seven West Media; among "the best stories no-one has posted yet," Duane Atkins showed me was one the Daily Mail had quoting Kylie Jenner apparently saying she "looked like a 19-year-old prostitute" that even the Mail hadn't posted yet.

Chasing other people's content is one thing; watching where your own has got to is a theme for the curiously-named MatchHamster, where co-founder Yuri Martens told me the emphasis had moved from shirtfronting those who stole your content to using the knowledge as an introduction to doing business. Something I could try in India!

And as a tool to help nurture customer relationships, I liked ppi Media's Thanks, which puts a geo-targetted app into the hands of advertisers, while helping to cement the bond with publishers. It's a product of the innovation labs the German developer has been running.

It's no secret that - in this DRUPA year - many of print's heavy-metal vendors were missing from the Vienna show. manroland web was there, but with KBA absent, so to were the traditional "state of the industry" press conferences.

Having said they wouldn't attend, techniweb relented to be present both in Düsseldorf and Vienna, and while Harland Simon and Nela had stands, others were "exhibiting in the aisles" and potted plants marked the spaces where still more might have been.

Accraply's Tom Schuh brought a rare piece of print hardware to the show, an applicator to place sticky-notes on newspaper pages.

The outcome was a three-day show which in most areas maintained its momentum until the end, with exhibitors I talked to pleased and surprised with the business and new prospects they had encountered.

Next year's event takes a new format - with a Swiss exhibition partner collocating in the Berlin halls - and reverts to an old name as the Ifra Expo. Easier to fit into a headline at least.

Peter Coleman

Sections: Newsmedia industry

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