Newspaper owner, Northern & Shell, has seen over 1.5 million people download app versions of its  publications. The applications are seeing 14 million page views per month, with an average of 10 minutes per session being spent on the apps.

The 20 native apps include five publications spread across four platforms: iOS, Android, BlackBerry and Windows Phone. The apps were also available on tablets including iPad, Android Tablet and Playbook which were purpose built and not rescaled from the smartphone version.

Northern & Shell wanted to engage with its readers on mobile and chose to partner with Mippin to offer its content through mobile apps. The apps which include Daily Express, Daily Star and OK! Magazine, feature in the top ten, on iTunes and BlackBerry App World, as well as being selected as ‘featured’ apps by BlackBerry and Microsoft.

BlackBerry was the number one platform for the apps, seeing 65% of the total downloads in the past six months. Between August 2011 and February 2012, over 45,000 Northern & Shell apps were downloaded by BlackBerry customers.

 “Northern & Shell’s apps, particularly OK! Magazine, have proved hugely popular on BlackBerry App World,” says Gregor Park, senior planning and marketing manager of UK applications at RIM. “Mippin developed strong, content rich apps that have been very appealing to female BlackBerry users.”

caroline@mobilesquared.co.uk