Scribd expands to iPhone with Float digital reader app

Social reading and publishing company Scribd is making its first major foray into the mobile application segment with Float Reader, a new digital reading platform optimized for Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhone.

Float Reader for iPhone is a reading app that aggregates news from various publishers.

Encompassing original Scribd content as well as Facebook and Twitter posts and articles from more than 150 publishers including Time, People, The Atlantic, Fortune and Scientific American, the free Float Reader solution enables smartphone users to more easily access and share content on the go, supporting both casual browsing as well as deeper investigation into specific subjects and areas of interest.

"Using new technology, text previously formatted for the web can now be easily read on any mobile device in a 'floating text' reading experience, enabling users to zoom in on text and scroll left to right like the pages of a book or magazine," writes Scribd community and content manager Mariko Fritz-Krockow on the company's blog. "In addition, content is personalized to reading style and environment, including settings for direct sunlight and eye strain." Android and iPad versions of Float Reader are in the pipeline.

Scribd's patent-pending conversion technology enables users to instantly upload and transform any file (including PDF, Word and PowerPoint formats) into web documents that can be discovered via search engine queries and shared across social networks. More than 75 million readers visit the Scribd website each month--in early 2010, the firm introduced a send-to-device feature enabling users to transmit content to e-readers and smartphones.

For more:
- read this Scribd blog entry

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Scribd raises $13 million to fund mobile expansion