2010 will be the year of the tablet. As companies race at breakneck speed to be the first to bring the touch-top to market, it’s somewhat unclear to consumers what exactly a gigantic iPhone might be good for. Well, thanks to publication giant Time Inc., that picture is beginning to come slowly into focus. Watching this amazing Sports Illustrated “issue” demoed on a tablet, it’s easy to let your mind jump to a scenario where all of your magazine and newspaper subscriptions (NatGeo please) are delivered via direct download, straight to your tablet, before you even get out of bed. This is exactly the brand of forward thinking that the innovation-starved print industry has hoped would bubble to the surface. There are production issues here however, as the polished experience on display in this demo is likely a little outside the wheelhouse of the current SI pagination department. But still… Check out the demo for yourself and dream about the shiny, portable, subscription-happy future.
Could This Kind Of Thinking Save Publications?
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
impressive. i would rather just have a multi-purpose tablet that can view time.inc as well as whatever else i want. it seems like too much bang for too little pow. publications definitely need to adapt though and this is a great start. however, it lacks the physical pages for turning which is what many people enjoy most about printed material. i’ll test drive one for sure!
Cool demo. Can’t see it flying. It’s like a netbook but with even less power. (And it kind of reminds me of the “electronic choose your own adventure” game that the Tom Hanks character, Josh Baskin, pushes in the movie ‘Big.’) Unfortunately, it still faces the same problems that publications have today:
1. The internet still has so much free content, why pay at all?
2. Immediacy of the internet. Would you still have to wait for each “weekly” issue? Or would they update the “magazine” by the day? Or hour? Or event in real time?
3. What about the advertising revenue? The print ads would become glorified banner ads, right? If you think those internet pop-up ads that cover what you’re trying to read are annoying now, how will 2-page spreads feel on this device? Downright oppressive I should think.
But the thing did look cool.