APC Magazine is one of the first Australian publishers to create an iPad app, and it looks pretty swish. You can get a tour of the application through the video below, published on the magazine’s YouTube channel. The magazine is one of Australia’s largest technology publications (and — by way of disclaimer — a customer of Delimiter, although we would have embedded this video here anyway!).
The reason we haven’t seen a “killer iPad app” is because publishers keep dumping a magazine layout on directly to the iPad. The magazine metaphor needs to be thrown out, and content designed as an iPad app, not a swipeable pdf.
True, but I think that will happen in time. You have to remember that publishers haven’t had much time to play with the iPad and work out how things will change re the magazine metaphor. Personally I think iPad apps need to interact with the web (for example, comments on article and Twitter) to match the sort of interactivity and engagement that web sites themselves can provide.
APC’s iPad app is a good first effort though — and certainly the magazine has gone to a lot more effort than most of its competitors.
@Jared agree totally. Its all about content production. If you want to create the kind of apps that have been put forward in flashy concept vids then it’ll require masses of effort from a content perspective. That said the first to do it will get rave reviews.
Hmm perhaps — but something that gets a bit lost is that most major magazines already have substantial design staff who are itching to do this kind of stuff anyway and move into the new medium to extend their skills. So I don’t think it will require masses of effort — just a translation of effort for existing in-house staff. Will it require more effort than simply slapping up a WordPress site and putting up some blog posts? Of course ;)
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