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Layar chief exits CEO spot in favor of print guru, edges closer to augmented reality magazine dreams
Layar previously signaled that it wants to get into augmented reality print media, and its founder Raimo van der Klein is putting his money (or at least, his title) where his mouth is. He's leaving the CEO position in favor of Quintin Schevernels, who comes from the print publishing world as VNU Media's COO. Van der Klein will hang around as Creative Director to keep the company pushing forward in new directions, but he sees most of the money-making coming from print-friendly tools like Layar Creator -- it only makes sense to have someone who's well-steeped in the medium (and who can turn a profit) running the show. Schevernels hasn't signaled any grand strategy changes in his first few hours on the job, although he might not be in any rush following the launches of apps like Stiktu. We'd just be ready for a whole lot of augmented reality magazines and cereal boxes in the near future.
The Daily Grind: Do you subscribe to offline gaming publications?
Some people say print media is already dead, but as a fan of magazines myself, I tend to disagree. Online media may be taking over for online-themed topics more than anything else, but there are still those of us who enjoy the look and feel of a paper publication in our hands. Plus, I'm a bit of a graphic design nerd, so the aesthetics and layout of these magazines make it even more worth while to me. But what about you? Do you feel that the popularity of the iPad and other mobile devices is driving just another nail in the coffin of print media for tech and gaming news, or will there always be a place for it on your coffee table? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Adobe upgrades its Digital Publishing Suite with iPhone viewer, improved social media features
Between rolling out Creative Suite 6, Creative Cloud and a new video platform for broadcasters, Adobe's been mighty busy lately. If that's not evidence enough that the outfit is making good on its promise to restructure around digital media, hear this: the company just announced a slew of enhancements to its Digital Publishing Suite (DPS), which Conde Nast and others use to format magazines for mobile devices. For starters, publishers now have a way to tailor content specifically for the iPhone, just as they can for the iPad, Kindle Fire and Android tablets. So far, we know Conde Nast will be using this tool to build a modified edition of The New Yorker, though Conde Nast hasn't announced when it will become available for download. Meanwhile, art departments used to working in InDesign can now take a single a layout and repurpose it across multiple devices. Similarly, DPS is now integrated with Adobe Edge, which means publishers can create HTML5 animations and then easily port them over to their digital editions. Moving on, SocialSharing is exactly what it sounds like: it promises to make it easier for people reading these magazines to share stories using built-in email, Twitter and Facebook functionality. Getting more granular, a new font rights policy means that once a publishing company buys rights to use a certain font, it won't have to pay additional per-usage fees every time someone downloads the app. Lastly, Adobe announced that Meredith, the company that brings you (yes, you) Better Homes and Gardens, Parents and Fitness will also begin using the platform to create digital editions. Hold onto your britches, kids.
What's next for Spotify? Apps, apparently
We may have to wait until noon ET today to get the official word on "what's next" from Spotify, but The Wall Street Journal has kindly given us an early peak into what we can expect a few hours from now -- namely, apps. The Swedish music streaming service is apparently getting ready to go all Facebook on us, offering up apps galore. When it launches today, the service's "app finder" will include magazine reviews, concert listings, lyrics and the like, so you'll never have to guess at what Tom Waits is saying again.
Daily Update for November 21, 2011
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen.
Barnes & Noble Nook Tablet review
Back in April, the Nook Color underwent a magical change of sorts: a software update that transformed the device from a color screen e-reader into an honest to goodness Android tablet. It was the company's first swipe at the space -- a backdoor approach that beat out fellow e-reader manufacturers like Amazon and Kobo. Its follow-up, the Nook Tablet, marks the company's first out-of-the-box shot at the consumer tablet market. Not to mention, it also goes head to head with the Kindle Fire, a device that's sure to be one of the best-selling gadgets of the holiday season, thanks to its price and wide content selection. Does the Nook Tablet have what it takes to topple the Kindle Fire? Do the product's benefits justify its $50 premium over Amazon's device -- or the recently discounted and soon to be upgraded Nook Color for that matter? Find out the answers to these questions and so, so many more, after the break.%Gallery-139965%%Gallery-139473%
Amazon bringing 400 magazines, newspapers, flame retardants to Kindle Fire
It's been a busy week for the Kindle Fire. First came news that Amazon would be bringing Facebook, Hulu and "several thousand" other apps to its forthcoming tablet, and now, we've got confirmation that hundreds of magazines and newspapers are on their way, as well. Yesterday, the company announced that more than 400 "full-color" titles will be available on the Kindle Fire Newsstand, including Us Weekly, The New Yorker and Reader's Digest, among others. Users who subscriber before March 1st, meanwhile, will be able to access a full 17 Condé Nast titles for free, as part of a three-month offer. Amazon is also promising plenty of interactive editions with built-in video and audio, which you'll be able to check out for yourself next week, when the Fire begins shipping. For more details, check out the full press release after the break.
Conde Nast Britain gives subscribers free iPad access
Condé Nast Britain has begun to provide existing print subscribers with access to equivalent digital editions on the iPad at no cost. According to an article published on the UK Association of Online Publishers website, Apple's Newsstand app has increased the issue sales of British GQ by 94%, Wired UK by 169%, and Vanity Fair by a whopping 245% over the average sales per day in September. Digital Director of Condé Nast Britain Jamie Jouning said that "Our existing readers will benefit from the ease of access to subscribe, while the prominent inclusion of our brands in Newsstand will allow an even higher level of 'discoverability'. Ultimately this should lead to greater subscription growth." The magazines take advantage of the feature of Newsstand that automatically updates digital editions in the background as new issues are published. Vogue will be adding a digital edition at the beginning of December, after having two very successful iPad editions in the past.
Condé Nast sees iPad subscription boom with Newsstand
One of the more unsung apps available on the iPad with iOS 5 is Newsstand, Apple's portal for newspapers and magazines. While many iPad users seem to be unaware of the app and its purpose, publisher Condé Nast is reporting that subscriptions for the digital editions of its titles have jumped 268 percent since Newsstand was released on October 12, 2011. Single copy sales are also seeing a boost with Newsstand, as the publisher noted a 142 percent gain over the previous eight week period. Condé Nast currently publishes Allure, Brides, Glamour, Self, GQ, Golf Digest, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair and Wired on the iPad, with Condé Nast Traveler, Bon Appétit, and Vogue expected to join the collection by the first part of 2012. This is great news for Newsstand and for publishers dabbling with electronic editions. Condé Nast reported last month that digital circulation of all of its titles had reached 500,000 readers, with 225,000 of those subscribers receiving the magazines only in digital format. Hearst, a competitor to Condé Nast in the magazine publishing field, reported last month that paid digital downloads of its titles had topped 300,000. Adobe has touted that their Digital Publishing Suite will soon provide support for Newsstand, so expect to see many more of your favorite magazines on the iPad soon.
GamePro VP talks about the shift to quarterly mags
Last week, GamePro shocked the industry when the magazine mainstay announced it was changing over to a quarterly format. Julian Rignall, vice president of GamePro media, recently explained the decision to Gamasutra. In a market with dwindling circulation, Rignall believes there's still a place for print. According to the executive, the choice is either to become incredibly cheap and "disposable" or, as GamePro plans to do, become a more expensive, premium product. Rignall said their just isn't a place for "sort of six, seven dollar magazines that are kind of cheap and a bit crap with low production." Magazines, to him, are no longer an impulse purchase, and most gamers can get their info on websites (like this one) anyway. According to Rignall, today's magazines are sold to a different kind of customer, "sort of upper-middle-class NPR listeners," that have "a level of connoisseurism about what they like." In addition to targeting a different kind of consumer, GamePro will also reduce distribution, limiting to locations where "we know they'll sell." Also, thanks to the quarterly format, breaking news coverage will take a backseat to "more thoughtful" coverage. Rignall likens it to "a magazine that kind of celebrates gaming in the terms of its sort of context within history, what's kind of going on now and where it's going." Head over to Gamasutra for more on the new GamePro, including Rignall's belief that even if it fails, he hopes it will usher out the era of gaming magazines "in style."
The New Yorker has sold 20,000 annual paid iPad subscriptions
The New Yorker has sold more than 20,000 annual paid iPad subscriptions since Conde Nast overhauled its iPad magazine strategy in May. 20,000 readers are now subscribed to the annual US$59.99 iPad-only edition of the quintessential news, social, and literary magazine while every week another 5,000 people buy single issues of the magazine for $4.99. While this is good news for Conde Nast, it also reflects heavily on The New Yorker as a magazine and speaks to its digital distribution strategy. Of all Conde Nast's iPad magazines, The New Yorker has achieved the highest subscription rates by eschewing the interactive and sometimes annoying eye-candy content and navigation other digital magazines have been using in their apps. As The New York Times points out, "The New Yorker, a magazine that has always been heavy on text, took a different tack from its peers. Instead of loading its iPad app with interactive features, the magazine focused on presenting its articles in a clean, readable format." In other words, even on a device like the iPad, the content and skilled editorial decisions of a magazine seem to matter more than distracting visual flair like page curls, flips, and transitions. Pamela Maffei McCarthy, The New Yorker's deputy editor, told The New York Times, "That was really important to us: to create an app all about reading. There are some bells and whistles, but we're very careful about that. We think about whether or not they add any value. And if they don't, out the window they go." Good advice.
Zinio 2.0 for iPad adds in-app purchasing, free article preview (video)
If you're reading magazines on your iPad, there's a fairly good chance that you're using Zinio. Released today, version 2.0 of the Zinio app for iPad makes it easier to hand over those newsstand-like per-issue fees with in-app purchasing, while also adding a variety of free preview content, including access to current articles from thousands of top publications. The app's new Explore section hosts this new free content, which updates daily and includes stories from magazines like Esquire, Rolling Stone, and Elle. The new app also features significant performance boosts, like we saw with last month's Android update, in-magazine shopping, and advanced bookmarks. Another update in the coming months will bring social media capabilities, such as bookmark and article sharing. We'd still love to see lower per-issue and subscription rates, but we're happy to welcome free article content in the meantime. Jump past the break for a video overview, along with a sneak peek at those social media features with Zinio CEO Rich Maggiotto.
GamePro magazine switching to quarterly schedule
One of the few active gaming publications that can truly be labeled "seminal" is drastically revamping how its physical version comes to consumers. Beginning with its Nov. 8 edition (Winter 2011) GamePro will become a quarterly magazine that will not only pack a bigger size per issue (15 percent larger and with 50 or so added pages) but a heftier price tag: $9.99. It won't just be bigger, though: GamePro Media says that the new mag will offer "a visually stunning, tactile experience and rich, engaging editorial." So, basically, quality over quantity, or (perhaps more accurately) quality and some quantity over frequency. We're looking forward to seeing the results.
NewsStand built into iOS 5
iOS 5 adds NewsStand, which is going to be huge for readers and publishers. Demoed at WWDC today, NewsStand looks just like the iBooks app, but this is for magazines and daily papers. Working a bit like the Kindle magazine system, NewsStand will update your magazines when they are published without any fiddling around by users. Magazines can be read offline, and Apple has apparently signed up a boat load of magazines and newspapers. The whole newspaper and magazine feature of iOS got off to a bit of a rocky start, with publishers not too happy about the Apple rules. It isn't clear if the rules have changed, but having the majority of your daily reading available in one place with auto downloads is a big step forward.
Time Inc. exec makes the leap to iPad startup Flipboard
The New York Post is reporting that digital journalist Josh Quittner is leaving Time magazine to join startup Flipboard as its new editorial director. Flipboard is a personalized social magazine app for the iPad. You can enter your Facebook and Twitter accounts and follow any number of sites' RSS feeds, and the app presents all the tweets, status updates and articles to you as a digital magazine. The fact that Quittner, who covered the digital revolution for 15 years at Time Inc, is leaving underscores a tectonic shift happening in the traditional publishing industry. It seems that those in the know feel secure in their beliefs about the future of publishing enough to leave established outlets for what they think is the future of the industry. Like many, I've said it again and again, publishers need to embrace the future if they want to keep up with all the ways people consume media nowadays. When veterans like Quittner, who also worked at Fortune and the now defunct (best magazine ever) Business 2.0, start jumping ship, it seems apparent that a tipping point from print to digital is closer than one thinks. [via iPodNN]
Playboy archives coming to iPad tomorrow
If you've been waiting for those Playboy archives ever since we heard about them in January, the wait is almost over. App Advice says the web app containing all back issues of the famously controversial gentleman's magazine will finally be ready to go on the iPad tomorrow, for a subscription price of $8 a month, of course. Back in March, an iPad app was released, but it's since disappeared from the App Store, perhaps because of Apple's restrictions on adult content there. Of course, the web app has no such restrictions, so interested subscribers will be able to browse all of Playboy's 50-plus years of content. We're just reading it for the articles, of course. But if this flies with consumers, we may see more publications going with a web-based content service occasionally, rather than depending on the Apple App Store to deliver archived content.
More developers getting on the iPad publish-it-yourself bandwagon
As the iPad shapes up to become an impressive force in publishing, we're seeing more developers get interested in providing solutions for small businesses, schools and organizations that just want to get a magazine out with a minimum of fuss. I looked at one system last month, and more are on the way. One new entrant is the Alligator Digital Magazine publishing system. The Los Angeles-based company provides an HTML 5 web-based tool that allows people to send content to a template-based content management system. The magazine supports zooming, web links, embedded video, photo albums and animations. Live updates can be done at any time. A preview app allows customers to test the magazine, and then it is published to the iTunes store. Multiple issues can be managed, and full text search is supported. If customers charge for the magazine, 30 percent of revenue has to be shared with Apple per App Store rules. Of course, your publication won't appear until it is approved by Apple. Pricing varies depending upon your online storage requirements and the number of downloads your magazine gets. Fees start at US$300 for up to 500 downloads a month. Support, if needed, is $100 an hour. Because Alligator serves as the content creator, not the publisher, you'll need your own developer account, which is $99 per year.
Condé Nast adds additional publications to iPad subscription options
Condé Nast was rumored to be reconsidering its pricing of subscription content on the iPad, but apparently that won't keep the publisher from expanding its offerings anyway. The company is going to be offering Allure, Glamour, Golf Digest and Vanity Fair in the mix, so users who want to subscribe to that content will be able to do so soon. In-app subscriptions will run US$19.99, with options available for monthly subscriptions or just individual back issues. And of course, if you're already a print subscriber to any of those publications, there will be a way to enter your information and get free access to the iPad content. That all seems like good news for both Condé Nast and its subscribers. There were a few kinks to work out with iPad subscriptions early on, but it seems like the market is settling down into a place where everyone considers the prices and the options agreeable.
Conde Nast rethinks its iPad strategy
A few weeks ago, after Conde Nast announced the company was slowing the process of bringing magazines to the iPad due to the ability to deliver the scale advertisers want (ie: iPad magazine sales suck), I wrote that sales of magazines on the iPad wouldn't get better until publishers woke up and realized that not many readers are going to pay $5 to read a single issue of a magazine on the iPad. Many readers agreed with me and, as of today, it appears that Conde Nast does too. The New York Post is reporting that Conde Nast is set to begin selling digital magazine subscriptions on the iPad as early as next week. The New Yorker will lead off the pack, followed by GQ, and then Wired, Golf Digest, Glamour, Vanity Fair, Self, and Allure. Single issues will drop from their current iPad prices of between US$3.99 to $4.99 an issue down to a reasonable US$1.99 an issue. Better yet, yearly subscriptions will ring in at US$19.99. Know what that means? The New Yorker is gonna have me (and probably many others) as a subscriber next week. As for current print subscribers, they'll be able to access the iPad editions of the magazines for free. Other magazine publishers: pay attention. This is how the magazine industry saves itself.
The Daily gets 800K downloads but loses $10 million this quarter
The latest quarterly results from News Corporation say The Daily, the much-publicized iPad newspaper, has lost US$10 million. Much of the loss is associated start-up costs. News Corp. reports The Daily costs about $500,000 a week to produce, and revenues depend on advertising and subscriptions. The company has not revealed how many of the people who downloaded the free introductory subscriptions have converted to the pay model. When The Daily came out, I thought the $39.99 annual subscription cost was reasonable, but the content mix turned me off. I'm not sure if the magazine has the proper flavor of news that would appeal to iPad owners. The Daily looks great and works very well on the iPad, but without compelling content, I'll never be a customer. Several other magazines have experimented with the iPad, often focusing on cost. Most recently, Time Magazine has offered free iPad issues to customers with paid subscriptions. Many publications are too expensive on the iPad, and cost more than the paper equivalents. Other solutions, like Zinio Newsstand, have a nice mix of magazines at reasonable prices, but basically you get a PDF of the magazine, which is a pain to read because you are constantly re-orienting the page to get the best fit. The Zinio app also offers a text mode, but then the layout and illustrations vanish. What are your thoughts? Have you been willing to pay for magazines on the iPad? If not, what would it take to get you to open your wallet?
