For the magazine industry, Apple’s iPad isn’t just a new gadget — it’s an opportunity to get readers to do what they have been reluctant to do: Pay for digital content.
Magazines ranging from Wired, born in the digital age, to National Geographic, first published in 1888, are moving aggressively to reinvent themselves for the iPad and other tablet computers coming to market.
They envision a new product that combines the feel of a traditional magazine — with the same eye-catching graphics and design that keeps readers engaged — with the immediacy and multimedia of the Web.
The iPad is “warmer than a computer, it’s more intimate,” said David Griffin, recently named to the new position of executive editor for electronic publishing for National Geographic and National Geographic Traveler magazines.
“You’re not jumping to another Web page, you’re not thrown into another environment, you don’t break the spell or the mood you’re in while taking in this information,” he said.
And perhaps just as importantly, publishers see a new way to get readers to pay for digital content instead of plucking stories off the Web for free.
It’s far too early to predict how magazine readers will respond. A survey by Retrevo Inc., a Sunnyvale, Calif., company that operates a consumer electronics shopping site, found that 58 percent of respondents said they don’t see a need to buy an iPad, while another 38 percent said the price — $499 to $829 — is too steep.
Still, Apple’s early success, with 2 million iPads sold in just the first two months, is giving the magazine industry hope. Most publishers are at least experimenting with the new medium, and even if they’re not, they’re watching very closely.
For Wired, “I think this is the future of the magazine, this is the future of the company and maybe this is the future of the industry,” said editor-in-chief Chris Anderson. “This platform makes real sense to us as magazine-makers.”
By June 4, 72,526 copies of Wired’s first iPad app edition had been downloaded since its release May 26, and Anderson said sales “continue to surpass all expectations.” Some readers have complained that at $4.99, the app costs the same as the printed edition, but Wired will introduce different pricing and subscription plans later this year.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
