2011 was a great year for tablets iPad, but with the rise of Amazon's Kindle Fire as well as competitors like Nook and Kobo Vox, it will be very hard for Apple to maintain its leadership (even with an overpriced iPad3). But the hardware's issue should not blind you with the reel ongoing war: Content. During the last two years, we have witnessed a number of very interesting experimentations in finding the digital equivalent to paper magazines (The Daily, The Project, Wired...). Why I am saying those are experimentations? Because it is an ongoing innovation process toward new reading experiences which will impact the entire industry.
From PDF to digital magazines
Can you recall the awkward debuts of digitalized magazines? Yes, those PDF files sold at paper price weren't the publishing industry's greatest achievement. But at that time, they had to face a huge challenge: Understanding what tablets are for and why users actually enjoyed them.
I interviewed the guys (and girls) of WonderFactory, the maker of numerous successful digital magazines, in order to know more about their innovation process. They ran series of test to better understand what was readers' priorities. First they cared about the aesthetic (typography, layout, photography... like what they experience on a paper magazine) and the readability of content, then they value the ability to access fresh data through an internet connexion (like what they are used to do with a browser). So this was the magic formula: The aesthetic of a magazine and the freshness of data of the web in a nice touch-based interface.
More easy to say then to do! The team had to experience various technology and publishing process to provide readers with an enhanced reading experience (Inside Sports Illustrated: Building a Magazine for the Digital Age). In the end, their return on experience is that the technology doesn't really matter: HTML5, Adobe Digital Publishing Suit, Woodwing, Mag+, Treesaver... are all very interesting solutions, but what really matters is the distribution. If you want to reach the mass market, your subscription/ distribution model will have to be the easiest for your potential readers.
This being said, from my point of view, all those technical solutions are worthless if your reading experience is not leveled with what the average reader is accustomed to. Remember we are (nearly) in 2012, if you want your digital magazine to stand from competition, you will have to raise the bar. This is where editorialized touch-based applications enter the game.
From DVD-Rom to editorialized touch-based applications
2011 was a very interesting year, because iPad owners had to chance to experience a new breed of application mixing content, photos and videos, animations and data. Push Pop Press pioneered this new category with Our Choice.
Soon, other applications like Road Inc., Pro Chef or Speakeasy Cocktails provided iPad owners with similar experiences.
Now we are beginning to see even more sophisticated experience with "books" integrating interactive tutorials (Master Your DSLR Camera) and community features (FOOD52 Holiday Recipe, 1,000 Places to See Before You Die).
From news readers to personalized social news app
Back again in the beginning of the iPad, Flipboard was a huge success thanks to the neat reading experience it provided to tablet owners. Soon, Flipboard was competing with numerous aother iPad app like Pulse and Zite (which was bought by CNN). Then the news industry entered the arena with News.me and Trove. Then the internet giants joined too with Yahoo's IntoNow and Google Currents.
Why is it that all of a sudden, everybody is going crazy with iPad news readers? Because the game has changed: Flipboard raised the bar to a new level, and competition have no choice but to align. Align to what? To a new enhanced reading experience. Does this sound familiar to you?
It is all about the experience (and content) (and social) (and HTML5) (or not) (wait... what?)
In the end, magazine editors, book publishers, news providers, application developers... they all compete in the same category: the best reading experience provider. Because it is not about choosing the right technology, or creating the richest content, it is about providing users with the best reading experience on touch-based devices.
Yes, Flipboard is a news aggregator, but what prevent it to became an ebook reader? Yes, Condé Nast Digital is focused on digital magazines, but what prevent them to launch a news reader? The competition is still open and their is no limit to what kind of content you can market, as long as you please users with the best reading experience.
I won't make any prediction, but 2012 will surely be a very interesting year to witness the transformation of not one but several industries (news, books and magazines publishing...) to adapt to readers' new expectations and to provide advertisers and announcers with innovative display formats which will fit this enhance reading experience.
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Oups, I forgot to ask you: Did you read this article on a tablet?
