10 years of magazines on the iPad
I was one of those lucky few that received an iPad ahead of the UK shipping date. I got to experience a new way of consuming content and interacting with a computer and I knew it was right for me.
Professionally I had visions of Hearst’s consumer titles being read on a hand-held screen instead of a desktop or laptop. This was the future, just one question, how to make it happen? Fast-forward to today, ten years later, and that same question is still being asked. Solutions have come and gone and I played my part in that evolution, revolution and damp squib disappointment.
Along the way the solution providers have produced some amazing products. Beautifully designed and engineered entertainment showcases that thrilled and delighted but ultimately failed to reach the mass market or address the loss in sales in the print sector. Cost was a major factor, especially in the early days. The time and effort to produce an interactive magazine on a monthly or weekly basis was prohibitive to many. So, we looked for automation and offshore workforces anything to bring that cost of authoring down. Publishers had the content but how to get it from a print workflow into a digital one in as automated a way as possible?
One answer was to have parallel workflows, content created with different destinations in mind. The proverbial publish anywhere solutions. Some of these workflows are now close to achieving their goals if you read the marketing literature and website advertising. It is a job done. Except of course it is never done. Not only do new ways of aggregating stories emerge they then vanish only to resurface as something else. The devices and use of those devices continue to evolve as consumer habits flit like butterflies from flower to flower.
Where do publishers put their effort? Is it in social feeds or digital subscription services? Should they focus on mobile or larger screens? Is it long form copy or snippets? Small wonder many publishers have doubled down on print, after all we know what we to do there…
Magazines editorial content is amazing. It brings together some of the best writers and editors to produce stories that are concise and accurate. Their copy is often accompanied by stunning images from professional photographers and illustrators that are masters of their craft. Then seasoned teams of designers lay it all out in a considered and clear way to form a visual feast. It is rare to see all these elements at play together in anything other than print.
Meanwhile, back on the iPad I have returned to magazines. I have to admit I lost faith for a while. All the content I needed to entertain me was available on-line, but the effort of finding consistent quality from a reliable source was exhausting. My choice is the PDF derivative of the print magazines, for all the reasons mentioned above.
I am lucky that the format fits perfectly on my iPad Pro. What’s more with an affordable monthly subscription, all my favourite magazines are available to me.
I know this is not the answer, and it feels like defeat. Maybe I am that new breed of technological dinosaur caught between the values of the old print world and delights of digital innovation. I can envisage how general artificial intelligence (GAI) systems could resolve publisher’s challenges. What I’m unsure of is whether there will be an audience left by the time we develop and implement such solutions.
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