Thanks everyone for the suggestions. They are coming from a different perspective than my own.
I'm still conflicted on the app vs browser strategy. The app gives me complete control over the integrity of the presentation. But as a small publisher, the cost (from the developer quotes I've gotten) is prohibitive and gets worse if apps need to be developed for additional platforms like Android.
The browser/viewer approach is universal, works on any device but I realize that it looks best (and was designed for) screens at least as big as the one found on an iPad, a minimum of 10 inches. Does anyone really read magazines on smaller devices, like an iPhone? Maybe younger people do, but it's my belief that if you're over a certain age, say 40 or 45, this is simply not the case. Am I wrong?
It's obvious to me, as the content creator/publisher, that if this is seen as a PDF, we're doing something wrong in the way we are marketing
Automotive Traveler. Although we output the page layouts from Scribus (and InDesign open source clone) to PDF, there is a lot going on before you see the presentation in our viewer. This has to do with things like how the content is searched and how we will be presenting video in the months to come.
In stepping back and looking at this from a global perspective, not only does it seem that I'm trying to bridge the gap between traditional magazines and the web, but between netbooks, laptops, and desktops with tablets like the iPad.
Even though Apple is on track to sell up to 50 million iPads this year (I assume this is worldwide), their overall household penetration will remain less than 10% here in the US, at least through the end of the year. As a content creator I'm trying to position myself as this market evolves and expands, reaching the maximum number of readers. Overall, it's no secret, that porting magazine-type content to tablets hasn't been all that successful.
Wired, which many people cite as a good example, hasn't come close to the sales when it was first introduced. Is the size of the app impacting its success. This is certainly an advantage to a browser-based approach.
That will change once pricing models meet reality. Many people would much rather but a subsidized subscription for $10/year (83 cents an issue typically) than pay $3.99 per month for virtually the same content as an app. This is the battle the big publishers are fighting right now. They saw what iTunes did to the music industry, and don't want that to happen to them. Have you seen the size of the CD section in your local Best Buy? It's virtually gone.
Will the iPad replace traditional magazines as a way of delivering magazine-style content? I'm not sure. Many older readers, those for who magazines were an important part of their lives, find it hard. But the handwriting is on the wall as it was just announced that for the first time ever, eBooks now outsell traditional paperbacks. That's more because of Kindle and the Nook along with other eReaders but I think the iPad will be an increasingly important part of the picture.
I hope to keep the discussion going, hopefully getting more people involved so I can get a better handle on the process.
Richard Truesdell
Co-Founder and Editorial Director,
Automotive Traveler Magazine,
AutomotiveTraveler.com
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