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With 1.75 million Twitter followers providing topical cues during his live one-man shows and a very public affection for all things Apple, it was a fair bet Stephen Fry's new autobiography The Fry Chronicles would transcend the physical bookshelves in some fashion.

Yet publishers Penguin have surpassed expectations and conventions with the myFry app for iPhone and iPod Touch - an interactive re-working of the book, re-imaging the work as a glossary of Fry's life as a comedian, actor, author and HRH-endorsed national treasure.

Created by London-based digital agency Dare, the app revolves around an contents index in the form of a colour wheel designed by infographic artist Stefanie Posavec.

Users scroll around a colourwheel on the app's homepage, with the wheel's spokes forming links to 112 sections into which the autobiography has been separated. Each spoke is also given one or more of four colours which represent themes of the book, 'people' 'subjects', 'feelings' and 'Fryisms'.

The wheel means readers can dip in and out of the book according to their whim, and will further establish Fry's reputation as a modern-day Oscar Wilde with a fact or soundbite for every occasion.The digital nature also offers a ready-made archive, giving the £7.99 app relevance to those who may have already purchased the book, plus extra content including web links expanding on book topics and anecdotes.

Jeremy Ettinghausen, digital publisher at Penguin UK, said increased interaction and moves into the digital market were crucial in helping the publisher compete across a widened market.

'Our competition in the digital space isn't just other publishers, it's also Disney and EA', he said. 'We are learning that to compete with all of the wonderful interactive products available digitally we're going to have to do more than simply replicate our books on a screen, especially in the context of a mobile app store.

'We're going to need to develop not just content-rich experiences but also truly engaging digital experiences that take advantage of the interactions and connections inherent in new media.'