For RTL Nieuws we developed a sophisticated iPad magazine called ‘RTLNieuws 365′. This app is a true digital newspaper; It’s in fact the first major iPad publication in The Netherlands with a dedicated editorial team.
The app brings together several of RTL’s strongest brands, such as the RTL news show itself, entertainment brand ‘Boulevard’ and a sports section. There’s exclusive content as well: the app features a magazine with original content available only in the app.
The RTLNieuws 365 app has been developed together with various partners. Luminis developed the CMS for the app, UNITiD created the Interaction Design. We built the iPad app and the backend API.
While developing the front-end we had to overcome a number of challenges. The app is very photographic in nature, and we had to find a balance between dynamic layouts and memory performance. Optimized algorithms that dynamically load and unload content from the iPad’s memory, while smartly make decisions to preload certain content, allow us to deliver a rich and smooth experience on both iPad1 and iPad2 devices. The app feels ‘instant’, even though new content is constantly being delivered and processed.
The richness of the content allows RTL to maintain a magazine that will constantly look fresh and is a joy to read.
The backend we developed has a number of interesting features. It was important that the app would work for a large volume of devices (the app hit the number 1 spot in the app store within only a few hours), so the API is highly scalable. The content itself is highly optimized for mobile devices by the backend API, to minimize the amount of data a user needs to load – while still being highly dynamic. The backend integrates various feeds such as the content from the CMS, realtime sports, traffic and weather data.
For an overview of the most important features, watch the demo video by RTL’s Editor-in-chief Harm Taselaar (the voice over is Dutch, but you’ll get the gist from the footage):