Tag: Digital publishing »

We love The New Yorker. The magazine’s off-beat takes on news of the week by world class writers, the erudite critics, the infusion of short fiction and poetry coupled with charming cartoons, cover art and a complete list of everything cultural happening in Manhattan gives it relevancy and something we seldom get to talk about – re-read value. For iOS and print subscribers yesterday brought great news, The New Yorker updated their app to make it universal, with a new for-iPhone interface. If you haven’t read the magazine before now’s the time. This week’s issue is free on all iOS devices.

The new UI is nothing short of amazing. Using Adobe Digital Publishing Suite magic they have a an iPhone iteration that downloads in seconds and is only 27MB compared with the 183MB the same issue takes up on iPad. As far as we can tell, no content has been omitted or truncated. Other iPhone-only perks, which we hope to see on iPad soon too, include easy sharing of what seems to be all the articles and definitely all the cartoons. We expected readability issues for our, um, how to put this, senior (citizen) writers, but remarkably the text appears slightly larger than on iPad and is extremely clear.

We hope, along with a similar update for iPad readers, Conde Nast continues to bring its magazines in on this deal with Adobe. If this first iPhone New Yorker issue is any indication it’s a match made in digital publishing heaven.

Zinio has long been a serious player in digital magazines distribution, on and off iOS. Zinio first appeared on the App Store in April 2010, but offered digital magazines on its website well before that. Zinio's iOS app updated recently and is now optimized for the new iPad’s retina display. With a vast catalog of first and second tier magazines and with periodicals available across various mobile and PC platforms, Zinio is proving they can stay competitive. Download speed has also been improved considerably in this update.

The quality of individual digital magazines is always dependant on the publishers, not Zinio or any distributors. Some magazines look like what they are - prettified PDF's. But, when magazines like National Geographic take advantage of all the interactivity, particularly now with the crisper text and images, the reading experience parallels any on Apple's Newsstand where many magazines have yet to be updated for the enhanced display.

Zinio's update shows the company's continued dedication to iOS as a platform. Until Apple can bring in more partners like Rolling Stone and somehow urge or compel all iOS native magazine publishers to support its best and newest features - a slow process considering major publications like Time Magazine, The Nation and The Atlantic have yet to adopt Newsstand, much less adapt to the latest iPad's specs - Zinio should continue to hold their market share and possibly even see it grow.

A number of iOS developers decided to talk numbers at BAFTA's recent What's App event in London. The Guardian's article is full of all manner of interesting tidbits and discussion. Taking the stage to talk about storytelling, profit margins, and children's content were Peter Sleeman (co-director, P2 Games), Paul Bennun (chief creative officer of content design and creation, Somethin' Else), and Tom Bonnick (digital project and marketing manager, Nosy Crow). The trio divulged some interesting numbers, as well as their perspectives on various app models.

P2 Games' bread and butter has been largely based around children's brands, including Peppa Pig and Fireman Sam, and have sold just under 600 thousand apps in less than a year and a half. Somethin' Else, responsible for the indisputably different Papa Sangre, also did quite well with their $4.99 interactive experiment. The audio-only horror game sold a respectable 70K copies since its release back in 2010. Nosy Crow opted out of the numbers game at the event, but they did put out a couple of critically acclaimed book apps (Cinderella, The Three Little Pigs) so they're probably doing just fine.

The general consensus revolved around knowing one's audience. According to Sleeman, Preschoolers are a very different market than the typical demographic so it's important to bring in people who know what the young-uns like and what keeps them coming back. Bennun championed the Premium model; keeping prices high and letting the quality of the product do most of the selling. Bonnick echoed the sentiment of quality, and mentioned Nosy Crow's strict adherence to in-house development.

I'm curious to see if anyone agrees or disagrees with these ideas. They certainly seem sound to me. Especially the one about refusing to use in-app purchases in apps meant for children. Thoughts?

[Via: theguardian.com]

Digital magazines appear to be on the rise with the likes of Newsstand encouraging such trends. That's not the only place that such publications can be found, though, with many magazines pursuing things with their own app.

One such publication is that of PC Advisor Daily, an iPad-optimised magazine that promises all of PC Advisor's latest content in real-time. The app features news, reviews, features, opinion pieces and how to guides galore.

Updated every minute of every day, fast access to all the latest articles from the magazine is available. Throughout, the content is interesting, current and expertly written. Adding extra interactivity is the ability to customize content so that favorite subjects can be prioritised. Articles can also be saved so they can be viewed offline, plus there's Twitter and Facebook integration for the socially minded.

PC Advisor Daily is available now for the iPad and it's a free download.