Li Jing

    1793367393@qq.com

    SHENZHEN Press Group, one of China’s largest press groups, took another step towards omnimedia yesterday with the launch of a mobile application for financial, science and technology news, Duchuang.

    The app, with both iOS and Android versions available, will focus on news videos. It is said to be China’s first news app that allows the use of virtual reality technologies and enables its users to listen to news that can be read aloud automatically in proper order.

    Operated by the Shenzhen Economic Daily, the app is a key project of the 2020 Shenzhen Cultural Innovative Development program.

    Li Xiaogan, Shenzhen’s publicity chief, said at yesterday’s launch ceremony that he hoped continuing to be a window on Shenzhen would still be the top priority of the app and hoped it will ascend to be among China’s leading news apps and set an example for the country’s media integration.

    Zheng Guangning, vice head of Guangdong provincial publicity department, encouraged the app to be farsighted in planning future development, become the most authoritative and professional user-oriented news source, and be innovative in building a flexible, smooth, effective and competitive operation mode.

    Chen Yin, president of the press group, believed the app, which is tailored for Shenzhen’s industrial layout, owns a competitive advantage in that it values user experience paramount, and in the end it will stand out amidst fierce competition.

    Prior to Duchuang, the Shenzhen Special Zone Daily, the press group’s flagship newspaper, launched its first news app named DT News, in March.

    A growing number of Chinese newspapers started developing their own apps in 2010.

    Online data shows that China had launched more than 1,300 news apps as of January.