A new version of NewspaperDirect’s newspaper reader app for iPad and iPhone provides a glimpse of features which mimic the way a print edition reader navigates the issue.

News and features can be presented in a stream which allows readers to view adjacent stories in addition to the one they have chosen.

The new PressReader version for iOS5 devices includes a SmartZoom feature that 'locks-on' to the newspaper articles when reading in a zoomed view. A double-tap zooms in to the beginning of the story, rather than the touch point. Then, as the reader scrolls down the article, columns are automatically aligned for optimum viewing.

Chief executive Alex Kroogman says a full understanding of the structure of every page and every article was required to implement SmartZoom. NewspaperDirect’s content processing system includes more than 4000 workflows and a PDF-to-XML translator, which uses recognition algorithms and artificial intelligence to reconstruct missing semantic structures.

“iOS5 finally gives us the performance needed to implement a range of engaging features that will get us to what we like to call Newspapers 2.0,” he says.

Kroogman says the new app is “just the beginning of what we have in store”. In a 12-minute company video, business development vice president Alex Gruntsev outlines the philosophy behind the changes.