Yahoo and Google said to debut new digital newsstands
The two Web titans are set to launch rivals to the popular Flipboard, giving tablet users more options for reading news and magazine content.
Yahoo will launch its Livestand digital newsstand for tablets and smartphones at a scheduled Wednesday press briefing, according to AllThingsD.
And in the coming days, Google too will enter the increasingly crowded field with its newsstand application, code-named Propeller, the site reports.
The digital newsstand market includes the popular application Flipboard, Pulse, and CNN's Zite. Yahoo demoed Livestand earlier this year, at which point the app ran only content from Yahoo properties, such as Yahoo Sports, Flickr, and the celebrity gossip site OMG. Yahoo has been working to woo publishers to the application ever since.
Google's Propeller, too, has surfaced before. A month ago, various reports disclosed that the Web giant was working on the application. Like Yahoo, Google sees an opportunity to generate ad revenue around the elegantly displayed content, tailored to tablet devices. According to the AllThingsD report, Google has lined up a "plethora of media partners."
Both companies will be chasing Flipboard, which has been downloaded 4 million times and has lined up 50 publishing partnerships. It's also built in tight integration with the social networks Twitter and Facebook.