Ashland, Oregon – Open Door Networks Inc. announced that it is shipping a major new application for both the iPhone and Macintosh. “Art Authority” represents the most comprehensive member of the company’s line of over 100 iPhone apps, and the first member of that line brought back to the Macintosh. The app’s 1000+ artists and 40,000+ works of art are by far the most available for either platform. A release for the iPad is also planned.
As part of We-Envision, Open Door already ships a number of the most successful art apps for the iPhone. Art Envi and Art Envi Deluxe have been bestsellers for a year-and-a-half, with Art Envi holding the top paid spot for any app in Japan for over a week. The apps’ large customer base has suggested a number of enhancements, which have culminated in Art Authority. The improvements include:
* Over triple the number of artists and works of Art Envi Deluxe or any other art app
* A significant speed-up of access to most works, by hosting the works on company-based servers
* Detailed captions on the works, including title, date and location
* Multiple levels of organization including by artist name, period, movement and date
* Overviews of major works by period.
The app also includes signature features of the company’s Envi app line, such as stunning full-screen slide shows, insightful thumbnail overviews, Ken Burns motion effect and access to detailed information on artists and periods. The app focuses on western painting and sculpture from pre-history to present-day, for education, reference and entertainment.
To implement many of the app’s new features, Open Door stores most of the artwork on its servers. This new technique enables access to much more art (multiple gigabytes, which could not practically fit in the app), platform-specific optimization for size and download speed (faster downloads on the iPhone and higher-resolution images on the Mac), and detailed work-by-work captioning. Art still under copyright continues to be downloaded off authorized servers, as previously.
“We wanted to take our art apps to the next level,” said Alan Oppenheimer, president of Open Door Networks. “And we realized that hosting the art on our servers was key. Doing so opened up all sorts of possibilities, now and in the future.”
The Macintosh version of Art Authority represents a return to the roots of the Envi app product line, which began in 2004 with the company’s innovative Envision Web-image browser. That Mac product evolved into iEnvision for the iPhone (a day-one app shipping in July 2008) and from there into the line of over 100 Envi apps. Art Authority for the Mac is thus tailored to the Mac platform, taking advantage of large-screen and other features not available in the iPhone. “And wait until you see our iPad version,” Oppenheimer hinted.
The company worked with a university art consultant on selection and organization of the app’s artists. Periods covered include early art, Renaissance, Baroque, Impressionism, Romanticism, Modern and Contemporary, as well as a special section on American (US) art. Each period includes multiple movements and/or nationalities.
Art Authority’s introductory price is $10 on both platforms. Product details, including a list of all 1000+ artists and an FAQ, are available on the We-Envision and Open Door Web sites. The iPhone version can be purchased through the iTunes store, and the Mac version through the Open Door Web site. A free, 10-day evaluation version of the Mac product is also available.
