Dorling Kindersley opens its own app shop

Dorling Kindersley, the educational and children’s publisher, is to launch a new website this week that will allow customers to download a selection of digital products from its own stable and that of others.

By James Quinn 12 Dec 2010 - - The Telegraph

Users can download Jamies Oliver's 30 Minute Meals the app version of the popular book, Jamie's 30 Minute Meals Photo: Rex

The publisher, owned by Pearson, is aiming to sell the digital products linked to some of its best-selling books, including books by parenting expert Miriam Stoppard and its DK Eyewitness travel guides.

But at the same time – in what is thought to be a first for the publishing world – the shop, which can be found at http://www.dkappshop.com/, will also sell the products of other publishers, as well as helpful applications for most types of mobile phones on all networks and most operating systems.

For example, users can download the popular Angry Birds game from its site, or choose to buy Jamie’s Oliver’s 30 Minute Meals – the app version of the popular book, Jamie’s 30 Minute Meals – which shows users how to cook a variety of different dishes.

However, price may prove to be an issue, with the Jamie Oliver application costing £6.19 on the DK site, but just £4.99 in Apple's App store this weekend. But the company stresses that the site, rather than going head-to-head with Apple, wants to offer consumers who are perhaps not as savvy with technology applications chosen and edited by the DK team.