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Blurb announces a global partnership with Samsung for auto-creating stunning photo books and magazines

Blurb, the global creative publishing platform, today announces its partnership with Samsung Electronics to power worldwide book and magazine print production and fulfillment within Story Album for Samsung GALAXY S 4, Samsung’s newly announced flagship smartphone. Users of Samsung GALAXY S 4 will be able to automatically create professional quality print photo books and magazines quickly and seamlessly from their camera phone images.

“People love the convenience and immediacy of camera phone imagery, but they also prize the beauty and permanence of print media,” said Eileen Gittins, Blurb’s CEO and Founder. “As our lives become increasingly digital, people are genuinely appreciating the value of physical artifacts,” Gittins continued. “By combining the remarkable image quality that the GALAXY S 4 offers with the easy production of books and magazines that Blurb brings, everyone gets the best of digital and analog.”

Until now, there has not been a simple and elegant way to curate and design, and then order a book or magazine directly from the smartphone itself. Samsung and Blurb teamed up to solve this problem via the pre-installed Story Album and its auto-generated layouts that instantly convert into print-worthy publications.

“The Samsung GALAXY S 4 is equipped with the superb quality camera and unique, sophisticated features maximizing the usage of photography experiences,” said Chan-Woo Park, Vice President of Product Strategy Team at Samsung.  “We expect our customers will want to output their beautiful images into equally beautiful books and magazines. Our partnership with Blurb will provide the top-of-the-class experience for our customers.”

Blurb brings Samsung massive capacity and redundancy via its six print locations on three continents, support for the world’s major currencies and languages, and deep shipping and logistics expertise. Blurb is already a global company having delivered more than 6.5 million books to 70 countries to date, with half of its revenues currently generated outside the United States.

 

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Joanne Carter is a British photography journalist, editor, curator, and the founder of *TheAppWhisperer.com*, one of the world’s leading platforms dedicated to mobile photography and art. Since its launch in 2009, TheAppWhisperer has become an international hub for artists of all levels to discover, learn, exhibit, and engage with contemporary photographic practice.Built on principles of inclusivity, accessibility, and artistic excellence, Joanne has spent almost two decades championing mobile photography as a serious artistic medium. Through interviews, critical essays, exhibitions, competitions, and education, she has helped shape and document the evolution of mobile art on a global scale.Her work has taken her internationally, lecturing on photography and mobile art at institutions and events including the Museum of Art in Seoul, South Korea, alongside appearances in the UK and Europe. She has served as a juror for international photography and mobile art awards across Portugal, Canada, the United States, South Korea, Italy, and the UK.Joanne is also the founder of *TheAppWhispererPrintSales.com*, one of the first online galleries dedicated exclusively to collectible mobile art, connecting artists with collectors across Europe, the United States, and Asia.Before founding TheAppWhisperer, Joanne worked extensively in print journalism and photographic publishing, including roles at a paparazzi photo agency and as deputy editor of a leading photography magazine. Her freelance journalism, criticism, and commentary have been published widely in both the UK and the US, with bylines in *The Times*, *The Sunday Times*, *The Guardian*, *Popular Photography*, *NikonPro*, *DPReview*, *Which?*, *Vogue Italia*, *LensCulture*, the *BBC*, and more recently, the *Financial Times*, where her published letters on photography continue to contribute to wider conversations around the medium.Alongside her editorial and curatorial work, Joanne’s own photographic practice has been exhibited internationally across the UK, Europe, South Korea, and the United States. Her work increasingly explores themes of grief, loss, death, memory, and the body.Her current research interests centre on grief, death, and poverty, with forthcoming postgraduate study leading towards doctoral research in these areas.Joanne is currently developing new long-form writing and photographic projects and is available for commissions, editorial projects, speaking engagements, and collaborations.Contact: joannetheappwhisperer@gmail.com)

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