The app, which highlights selected articles from the print edition of The World In 2012, also offers unique video interviews with Facebook’s chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg, as well as interviews with people from London, New York and Beijing about events in 2012.

Ron Diorio, economist.com VP of product and community development, said, “We hope it will make readers enquire about other aspects of the World In. It could be the first point people become familiar with The Economist so it also points to other products.”

The move is part of the title’s wider digital strategy, which saw it expand its mobile offering to Android earlier this year in a bid to increase downloads and digital subscriptions.

Although the weekly Economist app features an audio version of all articles, an audio version of The World In 2012 is not available this year, but it is something the title will consider for 2012.

“This year we wanted to use video to bring it to life’” said Diorio. “We wanted to make it personality-based.”

The app can be downloaded from Apple’s App Store.