Magazines, like their newspaper counterparts, have moved aggressively to develop software for Apple's iPad. But the gadget, now in its fifth month of availability, represents a much different distribution opportunity for magazines than it does for newspapers.
What to do
The challenge facing magazine publishers, said Jerry Beilinson, deputy editor at Popular Mechanics, is determining the right mix of features to add.
Popular Mechanics last month debuted an iPad version of its monthly magazine, using software developed by publisher Hearst Magazines.
The prototype app, priced at $1.99, was engineered to illustrate some of the features Popular Mechanics may include in its monthly version, expected to be launched later this year. Hearst will use the software to underpin iPad apps supporting its other magazines, including O, Esquire, Harper's Bazaar and Cosmopolitan, later this year.
The Popular Mechanics app contains embedded video, 3-D building plans, interactive animations and other elements, said Beilinson. Among them: an interactive earthquake tracker and an animated illustration of an extreme free fall without a parachute to accompany a story.
Users, meantime, can send e-mails, update their Facebook accounts and use Twitter from within the app, further increasing its flexibility.
"We have been looking at these types of platforms for quite a few years, and our primary goal was to gain knowledge regarding how we could program and design such an app, while allowing readers and advertisers to provide feedback," he said.
Great feedback
In the first few weeks after the app's release, the software was downloaded more than 10,000 times. Beilinson said Popular Mechanics heard from more than 1,200 readers, with most reactions being positive.
"We're going to take an experimental approach and see what emerges," he said. "We have 1.2 million print subs and we have 2.5 million unique visitors on our website, so it's too early to say how the iPad app will evolve. The technology is great, but what kind of information our readers want is yet to be determined."
The planning process will also include discussions on how the magazine will be able to further cement its relationship with print subscribers, Beilinson said.
"Generally, magazines haven't faced the same decline in subscribers and revenues that newspapers have faced," he said. "Newspapers are continually having to compete (with many other sources of information), but magazines concentrate on gathering only a certain kind of information. Readers spend more time with magazines, and they have a different type of relationship with the print version."
That being said, the iPad offers intriguing possibilities for Popular Mechanics.
"The magazine is really fantastic on the iPad," Beilinson said. "Our readers want to understand how the world works from a science and a technology standpoint, whether it's wiring a house or a space ship, so one of the things we did is put a 3-D CAD file to show readers how a project is put together. In print, we're limited to how many how-to photos we can print, so the iPad app is much more in depth."
More features
In contrast to Popular Mechanics' "showcase" app, Sports Illustrated in late June released its full-featured iPad app, using WoodWing Software's Digital Magazine Tools authoring suite.
SI's app, priced at $4.99, includes an original documentary, a panoramic photo illustration of Pebble Beach, multiple photo galleries, video essays and other exclusive content.
"When we released a video demo last November of what SI might be on the iPad, we knew expectations would be very high," said Terry McDonell, Sports Illustrated Group Editor. "Hopefully we have exceeded those expectations."
The app includes social networking features as well as live newsfeeds with up-to-date scores and statistics.
DMT for iPad, which WoodWing introduced earlier this year, integrates with Adobe InDesign to enable publishers to create content for the device and for print with the same tools.
"Sports Illustrated succeeded in turning the iPad version of their magazine into something unique," said Erik Schut, WoodWing's president. "Not only has the ‘wheel' to operate various sharing functions been implemented in the app, they also make extensive use of the newest features available in our Digital Magazine Tools."
In addition to SI, parent Time Inc. used WoodWing's DMT for iPad platform for Time's iPad app, which rolled out in April. DMT was also used for iPad development by a variety of magazines in Japan, Belgium, Italy and Indonesia.
Growing interest
WoodWing is one of a number of CMS vendors that have targeted the magazine iPad market.
Earlier this year, ProImage and PageSuite Ltd. rolled out iPad development platforms for magazines, and MediaSpan said it plans to introduce a similar authoring suite later this year.
"One of MediaSpan's core strategies is to develop all of our products to handle multichannel publishing," said Ken Freedman, the vendor's vice president of sales and marketing. "We also include automation tools so that the content can be created once. We're developing an iPad app and delivery service that will allow our customers to publish to this device directly from their MediaSpan editorial systems," he said.
ProImage, meantime, trotted out Equinox, software aimed at automating the creation of interactive editions for display across a broad range of mobile displays, including the iPad.
The platform supports a variety of features including newsfeeds, social media and geotargeting, said Rick Shafranek, ProImage's vice president of sales and marketing.
"The app will know where users are physically located, thus allowing publishers to send ads to those locations," he said. The software will also let consumers create and post their own classified ads, a feature particularly attractive to niche publishers.
"There's lots of interest in the software," he said, adding that the app can either be administered at a customer's site or hosted by ProImage.
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