Disqus
When Apple launched the iPad and created a media frenzy around the tablet form factor, one industry who paid enormous amounts of attention to how consumers picked up and used the Apple’s newest toy were the publishing firms. Newspaper and magazine circulation is down as more and more people opt to consume content in front of their computers and on their smartphones, so it only makes sense that tablets could potentially be used to make some old customers come back and to keep current customers from switching their preferred media brand. In the case of the iPad, publishers have only recently started accepting Apple’s terms of taking a 30% cut when offering subscriptions via the App Store, and this summer you’re going to see several titles from Hearst and Condé Nast coming to Apple’s tablet, but what about Android? The CEO of NVIDIA recently said that within 30 months tablets based on Google’s operating system will outsell those running iOS, so how are publishing houses going to sell their content to people who own those devices?
Enter “Next Issue Media”, a joint ventre made up of various firms, most notably Hearst, Meredith, Time, and Condé Nast. They’ve made an Android application that allows readers to enjoy Esquire, Popular Mechanics, Fortune, Time, and The New Yorker on their tablet, and the ultimate goal is to have more than 40 magazines available for consumers. The best part about all this is they’re not going to surrender 30% of their revenues to the folks in Cupertino. While this all sounds well and good, there’s a catch. Right now the only device that will actually support Next Issue Media’s application is the Samsung Galaxy Tab, which isn’t even a Honeycomb device, and worst of all comes with a 7 inch, rather than 10 inch, screen. The news gets even worse, only the Verizon Galaxy Tab will be supported. This will change with time of course, but out of the gate we’re just yawning.
Keep an eye out on these guys though. Hopefully we’ll have more to report on them by the end of the year.
About The Author
Stefan Constantinescu
Stefan Constantinescu (@WhatTheBit on Twitter) has loved technology since as far back as he can remember. It started with computers, but in the past few years his passion has turned to mobile devices. As a mobile phone enthusiast who lives and breathes devices that connect to the internet, he knows he is not alone with this radical fascination of all things wireless. He is strongly opinionated and enjoys a good debate so leave comments in his posts and he’ll get back to you! Stefan began blogging as a hobby in the fall of 2006 and joined IntoMobile in the summer of 2007. Later he got a job at Nokia in March 2008, but as of June 2009 he has rejoined the IntoMobile team. He is currently based out of Helsinki, Finland.
