Will this be the way we read magazines in the near future? Videos: SI.com & Wired tablet versions

I have a hunch it may well be... check it out. This is amazing stuff - the only limit is our time, and attention;)

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Comments

[John]

1.

The idea that we need to replicate magazines, but just in digital form, is flawed. It's the magazine owners that are pushing that idea, not consumers.

Consumers want to consume content. They don't need it packaged like a traditional magazine. The popularity of blogs has proven that.

We will have tablets that allow us to consume content, but the whole idea that it will have anything to do with magazines and their desired format for packaging that content is just old outdated thinking.

It actually reminds me of the mid '90s when we saw retailers replicate the real world shopping experience, but on the internet. So they basically created these virtual shopping malls where you would click around and go from shop to shop, and inside the shops, you would see the products presented as they would be in a real world shop. They thought all online shopping would be like navigating a virtual world like Second Life. Obviously, online shopping did not end up being like what they thought it would. They tried to force the old format into the new one, when all along, it didn't make much sense, and just wasn't necessary. These magazine companies are trying to do the same thing.

Consumers also want to be able to share content, and if you look at those video demos, they look like closed propreitary platforms that make it really difficult (or impossible) to share with other people.

The magazine companies are not creating these tablets becaused they're responding to what the market is asking for, they're doing it because they're desperate to avoid going out of business. The world of content consumption is changing, and their old business model doesn't work anymore, and this is just their flawed attempt at forcing the old way into the new way, but it's not going to work.

[Gerd Leonhard]

2.

John, sure, there are those issues you mention, but I don't see it quite as black & white. Just like they are finding out with ebooks and the kindle: high prices and DRM won't work, and something has got to give, in 2010. In my view, the PRICING & VALUE equation will be driven and dictated by the consumers - and the 'tablet content economy'(along withe ebooks and mobile apps) is where this will become evident, very soon. Also, tablets will offer the opportunity for exactly the opposite of what you are fearing - they will not just replicate a printed magazine. Stay tuned!