The iPad has finally arrived and we couldn’t be happier. The tablet is exactly what we expected it to be and confirms the promise it holds for the future of magazines. The App Store and iBook Store offer publishers a potent platform for subscriptions. We can proudly say the Screenzine format will fit perfectly, especially in the case of apps designed specifically for the larger screen of the iPad. We do not rely on Flash and all our tech specs are fully compliant with the iPad’s: creating standalone apps was and is in our plans from the start.
You will be reading Screenzines on your iPad soon.
Categories: News.
By Luis
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January 28, 2010 at 12:49
Next to the tablet apps mentioned in our previous post there is another fascinating concept developed by Bonnier R&D and designed by BERG. They call it Mag+. Their thoughts closely resemble our own towards the future of digital magazines: “The concept uses the power of digital media to create a rich and meaningful experience, while maintaining the relaxed and curated features of printed magazines. It has been designed for a world in which interactivity, abundant information and unlimited options could be perceived as intrusive and overwhelming.” Check out their excellent video.
Categories: News.
Tags: berg, bonnier, mag+
By Erwin
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January 15, 2010 at 11:55
It has been a while since our last post. Sorry about that, we’ve been busy with both our day jobs and with Screenzine. We’re closing in on a format that can be best described as the ‘Monocle among digital magazines’. Suitable for high-end quality publications tailored for screen use. This week we showed our first mockup to potential clients.
We are not the only ones exploring this evolution in publishing. In the States an unique joint venture is set up between major magazine publishers Time Inc., Condé Nast and Hearst: “The company will prepare magazines that can work across multiple digital platforms, whether the iPhone, the BlackBerry or countless other digital devices. The company will not develop an e-book, but create something that people familiar with the plans compare to iTunes – a store where you can buy new and distinct iterations of The New Yorker or Time. Print magazines will also be for sale.”
This new company bets on the anticipated arrival of a complete digital publishing environment initiated by, amongst others, Apple, offering a viable business model, safe distribution, as well as an attractive device. As Freek Bijl pointed out, Apple came up with similar solutions for the music industry (iTunes + iTunes Store + iPod) and mobile industry (iTunes + App Store + iPhone). Expectation is Apple will repeat its magic in 2010 for the publishing industry: iTunes + ‘News Store’ + ‘iPad’. Demos of the first iterations of the tablet apps for Time and Wired magazine can be seen at TechCrunch.
This is future publishing in the making. Where are you at?
Categories: News.
Tags: apple, conde nast, hearst, tablet, time
By Erwin
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December 5, 2009 at 12:49
Last Thursday Apple changed its App Store policy extending in-app sales to free apps. As Wired observes this is particularly interesting for publishers who tend to offer iPhone apps for free but are now able to charge for its contents through subscriptions. Add to that Apple’s anticipated iPad, or MacBook Touch, or iTablet, or how you’d like to call it, expected to be announced early 2010, and there is an entire platform ready to be used internationally. Scarab Magazine for one has already started using it.
Note: The shown MacPad is a fake.
Categories: News.
Tags: app store, apple, iphone, tablet
By Erwin
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October 20, 2009 at 08:47
We have seen some examples already of interactive magazine covers, like this one by Popular Science, using the webcam in your computer. Anticipating on the arrival on really thin and flexible displays, photographer Alexx Henry gives a glimpse of a more appealing future of print magazines. He calls it living art and refers to sciencefiction and Harry Potter movies, in which pictures in newspapers and magazines often are actually videos that start playing on opening the page. This kind of technology would definitely go beyond Esquire’s e-ink cover. And it would add more value to a print magazine. For now we’ll stick to existing screens though.
Categories: News.
Tags: cover, living art
By Erwin
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October 10, 2009 at 19:35
Two articles we recently read touch the notion of value. Japanese studio Information Architects deconstructs the value of information, in an attempt to find a way to monetize content as paper is fading and people are not used to pay for websites. According to essayist Paul Graham in his article Post-Medium Publishing publishers need to rethink their strategy. He says readers never paid for content, but for the medium the content was published on. “They have two choices: give content away and make money from it indirectly, or find ways to embody it in things people will pay for.” His advice: “When you see something that’s taking advantage of new technology to give people something they want that they couldn’t have before, you’re probably looking at a winner.”
That is why we at Screenzine are exploring the future of digital magazines. That journey starts and ends with great editorial content, which we consider to be the most important value in magazine publishing, no matter what medium you’re using. With editorial we mean the skill, the craftmanship, to gather and select significant content and present it in an appealing fashion to the audience, in order to inform, entertain and inspire them.
In the end editorial boils down to one quintessential skill: taste. Or ’style’ if you like, like in this quote from JC Herz’ Joystick Nation: “Information isn’t the valuable commodity. The valuable commodity is information sorting. And actually, style is the most sophisticated form of information sorting.” Sophistication, that is what we strive for.
Categories: Screenzine.
Tags: content, editorial, style, value
By Erwin
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September 26, 2009 at 21:38
San Francisco based McSweeney’s, publisher of magazines, fiction and essays, has released an interesting iPhone app. It’s interesting not for its interface or contents, which are both of fine quality by the way, but for introducing what might be the first subscription model for digital magazines. You buy the app for 4,99 euro. The purchase includes the first six months subscription fee. For that you receive new stories on a weekly basis. An understandable, doable and simple solution. One that Rupert Murdoch plans to use as well for the Wall Street Journal apps for iPhone and Blackberry. In his case you would pay 1 or 2 dollar per week, depending on whether you’re already a subscriber to the printed paper.
I prefer subscriptions over micropayments per article. With the latter you become too conscious of the fact you are paying for the content. A subscription fee is less of a hassle. Subsequently I would like monthly, quarterly or annual billing for a digital magazine instead of weekly as the WSJ is planning. Just like we’re used to in the printed world.
Categories: News.
Tags: mcsweeney's, rupert murdoch, subscription, wall street journal
By Erwin
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September 26, 2009 at 16:47
Halfway between a book and a magazine there are comics. Starting out as a strip in newspapers the medium grew into its own. In the US several generations grew up with booklets about superheroes, in Europe we tend to more down-to-earth stories in larger comic books, sometimes even with hardcovers, and in Japan you can buy anime the size of the Yellow Pages.
French game publisher Anuman Interactive now developed an iPhone app for Largo Winch. Largo Winch is a critically acclaimed comic by Belgian duo Jean Van Hamme and Philippe Francq, originally published by Dupuis. The story was made into a movie in 2008.
The reading experience of the iPhone app is actually pretty good. Obviously, digital comic books don’t lend themselves for electronic readers. They don’t support color (yet) and the refresh rate of the e-ink screens is not sufficient. In the battle to be the dominant digital screen electronic readers do offer some advantages, e.g. a reading experience that is easy on your eyes and long battery life, but they don’t outweigh the disadvantages compared to lcd, led or oled screens, which are backlit, support color and have an amazing refresh rate – at least not for comic books.
But there is more of course. On a digital reader you want to be able to check the news and feeds as well. Check out also Mark Glaser’s comparison between the Kindle and the iPhone.
Categories: News.
By Erwin
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September 8, 2009 at 15:17
The iPhone is an attractive platform for magazine makers. It’s a popular smartphone with a user-friendly and beautiful interface. It also offers a potential revenue model due to the payment infrastructure of the succesful App Store. Sure enough publishers started experimenting. One of the first was Men’s Health who offers an iPhone app about workouts. Apps focused on branded services surely hold great potential, but we’re curious whether magazines themselves can be apps.
We’ve found several that head into that direction. First there are the ereader apps, like Eucalyptus and the one by Barnes & Nobles. Beautiful apps but not aimed at magazines. Iceberg Reader offers their app for both books and magazines. Interesting: they publish an app for each title. Newcomer PixelMags offers a similar app service. Publishers send them a pdf of their magazine and they create an app. In our view that’s not good enough.
There a few brands, mostly from the fashion world, that add magazine-like features to their iPhone app. The best examples are Net-a-Porter and Donna Karan. Again, we think there is more to it. We’ll let you know when we have something worthwhile of previewing.
Categories: News.
Tags: app store, barnes and nobles, donna karan, eucalyptus, iceberg, iphone, men's health, net-a-porter, pixelmags
By Erwin
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August 28, 2009 at 12:39
