Flipboard App Launches First International Edition in China

Popular Apple iPad news application, Flipboard, said on Tuesday it has partnered with China's Sina Corp and Renren Inc to launch a Chinese edition of the application to woo users in the world's largest Internet market.

Flipboard's chief executive tweeted in May this year that the application, which integrates Facebook, was blocked in China. Beijing fears that unfettered access to the Internet will lead to social instability and thus blocks Facebook and Twitter on the mainland.

However, the Chinese edition of Flipboard, the first international edition for the application, will feature Chinese content and integrate posts shared on Sina's microblog Weibo and status updates from Facebook clone Renren.

"We chose China for our first international edition because we had a unique opportunity to create an amazing experience with Sina and Renren. Also, China has the second largest Apple App Store in the world and it's one of the fastest growing markets for the iPad," said Mike McCue, Flipboard's chief executive in statement posted online. (http://flipboard.com/press/releases/flipboard-china)

Chinese users will be able to download the application from Tuesday, for free from the Apple China App Store. (Reporting by Melanie Lee; Editing by Ken Wills)