Apps Foundry Launches SCOOP For Android

Apps Foundry has officially released its SCOOP app on the Android platform. SCOOP was initially an iPad-only app that allows users to download and read magazines. Its debut on Android comes eighteen months after its launch.

SCOOP for Android has a different user interface than its iOS version, but it also has adopted some features that aren’t available on iOS, such as a payment options for bank transfers or PayPal, and optimization for low-end Android phones.

Willson Cuaca, the CEO of Apps Foundry, explained more:

This is a significant improvement because there aren’t many mobile applications in Indonesia that are using bank transfers to sell digital content and this is running without e-currency. This system is needed to adapt and fill users’ need in Indonesia. For this Apps Foundry has worked together with Finnet, a subsidiary of Telkom. SCOOP is also optimized for low-end Android phones with slower processors and smaller memory and it is available for 16 different Android phone screens.

In terms of content, the SCOOP team says it has added around 90 80 percent (Correction: 80 percent is the correct figure, as informed by the company.) of local magazines in Indonesia and plans to add to that in the future. It has brought some well known publishers such as Gramedia Majalah Group, MNC Group, and McGraw-Hill from the United States. The startup also powers the Samsung eReading app in Indonesia.

Apps Foundry now has four products on the market:

• SCOOP for iOS – which has successfully distributed more than 1 million magazines via iPads and iPhones.
• Samsung eReading powered by SCOOP – an exclusive Android app for Samsung, the newest version of which will be released together with the Samsung Galaxy S3 in the country.
• SCOOP Interactive – an interactive iOS newsstand based on HTML5 that will carry over 10 magazines.
• SCOOP for Android – the new baby, now available for tablets and smartphones runing Android 2.2 to 4.0.

With plenty of funds and claiming to be already profitable, Apps Foundry has also acquired media startups/blogs Makemac and GameSaku. Though it initially built a reading platform, those two media acquisitions suggest that Apps Foundry is trying to build around its own content, although it’s still unclear what its next steps and products will be.

Get the new SCOOP Newsstand for Android from Google Play.

Disclosure: Willson is part of East Ventures, an investor in this blog. See our ethics page for further details.