3D Issue is an Irish software firm that was founded in 2006. Based in Letterkenny, Donegal, it produces software that is intended to help marketers distribute content online. Its products can be used to create flipbooks, e-books, social hubs, news apps, and newsstands. The firm's flagship product is its digital publishing software suite, which was introduced in 2007.
Contents
Martin Bryant of The Next Web wrote in 2011 that “3D Issue is aimed at small and medium-sized publishers, marketers and anyone else looking to bring a magazine-like feel to their online products.”
Since its founding, the firm has shifted focus in its product line to adjust to changes in the way users consume content. “Today it’s critical for anyone posting content to be thinking ‘mobile first’, founder Paul McNulty said in February 2015. “Their content must adapt to fit the multitude of different resolutions across desktops, tablets, mobiles and eReader devices.”
As of February 2015, 3D Issue had 26 employees, over 10,000 customers, and more than 150,000 installations around the world. Its customers, most of them outside of Ireland, include Macy’s, CBS, Sony, Google, NASA, NFL, Yale, Harvard and Microsoft.
Founding
The company was founded in 2006 by Paul McNulty, who previously sold advertising space for a publishing company.
Some sources identify the firm as Trinity Innovations, Ltd., and refer to the products under the umbrella term 3D Issue.
In February 2015, McNulty told the Irish Times that the online promotion campaign for the movie Shrek, specifically a flipbook on the Disney website, had given him the idea for 3D Issue.
Team
Paul McNulty is the CEO and founder of 3D Issue. Colin Farrell is its Chief Operations Officer and Darren Doherty is its Chief Technology Officer.
Flipbooks
3D Issue's flip-book maker enables users to create flipbooks that can be viewed on desktops, tablets, eReaders, and mobile devices. In July 2016, the firm issued Version 8, the first publishing solution of its kind to use HTML5 instead of Adobe Flash.
Hubs
Released in 2010, the hubs enable publishers to centralize their online news, social content, and other marketing collateral from various web pages, feeds, CMS systems, and social platforms into a single location. The hub updates automatically and can be viewed on any device. On introducing it, McNulty explained that the typical content owner uses about 13 different platforms, ranging from Instagram to YouTube.
Apps
3D Issue's "app" enables users to build applications for their businesses. The app platform was launched in April 2015. Prior to that, it was in beta release, with such customers such as Lego, Pearson Education, the London School of Economics, and Manchester United.
Digital Publishing Suite
3D Issue's digital publishing software suite, released in 2007, provides users with access to all of the firm's production tools, including the flip-book maker, eBook creator, social aggregation tool, and mobile news app builder. Users can employ it to convert press-ready PDFs into interactive page-turning e-Replication editions. The tool can be used to create online magazines, eBooks, digital brochures, retail catalogues, reports, whitepapers and flipbooks.
In September 2009, 3D Issue became the first firm to release an interactive digital magazine software solution for the Mac.
Chicago Sun Times deal
In October 2014, 3D Issue contracted with the Chicago Sun Times to power hundreds of regional U.S. news apps. “We believe media and news is best executed as a mix of aggregated, curated and original content as, in the end, customers and readers want well organised information delivered to them in a variety of ways,” Timothy Landon, chief executive of the Sun Times Network, told the Irish Times. “This was a huge win for us,” McNulty said. “They now use our platform to monitor thousands of news portals and social platforms and then aggregate and deliver that content to their various metropolitan news apps. The system has been a huge success processing millions of articles per month.”