Tuesday, 16 February 2010

News Flash: Apple to launch iPad solution for magazine and newspaper publishers

One feature of Apple's hotly anticipated new iPad that has gone largely unnoticed is that, in addition to the iBook Store, Apple is bundling an application for magazine and newspaper publishers that enables them to distribute their content as well. Periodicals can be richly formatted, including video and color imagery, taking full advantage of Apple's multi-touch interface. Publishers may choose to distribute their content for free, or charge for single issues or subscriptions. What's more, Apple will not be charging an agency fee - publishers may keep all revenue for themselves. These electronic magazines will be built upon an open standard, which means content developed for the iPad can be easily accessed on other devices.

Newspapers and magazines are hesitant about adopting this technology, however. One source said "I don't know, it just seems too easy, too obvious somehow. There's got to be a catch. We prefer to do our own thing. We got our guys in the studio to put together this great mockup in Flash. Neat huh?"

Apple's new solution for magazine publishers will be called Safari, and is expected to ship pre-installed on every new iPad.

Posted by Graham Bower at 22:22

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2 comments:

  1. "These electronic magazines will be built upon an open standard, which means content developed for the iPad can be easily accessed on other devices."

    The words "Apple" and "open" really don't belong in the same sentence. What it mean is "can be easily accessed on other *Apple* devices.

    "Apple's new solution for magazine publishers will be called Safari, and is expected to ship pre-installed on every new iPad"

    If only the iPad could get a decent browser. The bottom line is that the HTML5 standard is years away and Flash is here, and pervasive, now.
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  2. HTML5 is only years away from Internet Explorer. I've been using YouTube with the HTML5 video for weeks now.

    And magazine websites are a reality today.

    As for Apple and open - it depends on what you look at. Mac OS X is built on plenty of open standards, and the early popularity of iPod was its support for AAC and MP3, as opposed to the kind of proprietary formats that Sony and Microsoft were pushing at the time.
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