Wijeya Newspapers launches first-ever breaking news Apps for Daily Mirror and Lankadeepa

By Devin Jayasundera

Wijeya Newspapers Ltd (WNL) in a revolutionary attempt to add a new dimension to the media industry in the digital era launched the country’s first ever breaking news Apps for iPad, iPhone and Android devices in English and Sinhala via its brands Daily Mirror and Lankadeepa.

WNL also unveiled the improved e-reader of Daily Mirror and Lankadeepa, which offers a smooth, real world news reading experience.

“The idea to move in to Apps came through analysing monthly web traffic rankings which indicated a significant number of usages of smart devices to access news web content,” WNL Director Sujan Wijewardane said.

He also noted increasing popularity of the Daily Mirror App which recorded 10,000 downloads within a period of four weeks.

With regard to the influential role digital media plays in people’s daily lives he emphasised that the Wijeya Newspapers digital section is to expand its horizons in this arena by these initial steps and bring news content effectively to the digital devices of its readers.

WNL Director Lal Jayawardene, addressing the gathering, enlightened the audience of the inception and the journey through the years of the company.

According to Jayawardene, the Sunday Times and the Irida Lankadeepa have in excess, a demand from advertisers which will make the newspaper twice as large and more costly. “These factors will shift the news papers to move in to digital content,” he said adding there is difficulty in recruiting newspaper delivery boys due to the common notion among the public that newspaper delivery is a low grade job.

In the demonstration of the new Daily Mirror and Lankadeepa Breaking News Apps WNL Digital Media Manager Gehan Block pointed out the i-Report feature of the Lankadeepa Application, which will popularise the theme of citizen journalism among the public.

The e-version is also available in Sunday Times and Sunday Lankadeepa. Currently 40,000 readers have already subscribed for the e-version of the newspapers. The e-version of the Tamil mirror will be launched in weeks to come.