Time Inc. Also Working on Digital Content In Anticipation of Apple Tablet

[Jayomat]

So rather than use the most popular platform (windows) to create a "mock-up" of this device they chose Max OS X? I don't think so.

the text says they want to be prepared for anything apple (or anyone else) has to offer.. so why not use mac osx theme? but that does not proof that apple is working on a tablet, nor that it's going to be released anytime soon.. (I think they are working on a tablet^^ but that doesn't matter ) it's just a theme... i can apply a OSX theme to windows if i want, but that doesn't make it a mac...

It DOES actually run, it is a running demo, if you read the original source, or the AI report. Just with a flying hand over it, which makes it look like a mockup.

the author said he was "able to play with it"... he didn't say anything about the "internals" of whatever he had in his hands.. we don't even know if he got anything in his hands at all. It could very well be a "demo-app" which is controlled with the mouse, it doesn't even have to have a touchscreen.. like the iphone emulator in Xcode or the android emulator for eclipse (...)

There are plenty of possibilities to create prototypes of "programs" you are going to create... you click on a certain point and it opens a predefined activity which then again shows texts etc... like an animated slideshow where you can chose which "part" you'll see next... call it an interactiv slideshow with various routes to go...

 

[DanielSw]

Kindle and Nook already exist and are starting to do the job that Apple wants to get in on.

Apple will easily eclipse these silly gadgets with their product.

 

[mikeoc]

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Originally Posted by jlseattle

Originally Posted by Jayomat
It doesn't mean anything.. it's just a mockup.. it doesn't run at all!

So rather than use the most popular platform (windows) to create a "mock-up" of this device they chose Max OS X? I don't think so.

So you think they made an OS X-compatible device, with high costs and EULA issues that would entail? Just to demonstrate software?

More than likely the reason is that the VAST majority of magazine designers around the world use Macs to do the job. It probably doesn't come down to a Mac vs. Windows preference but to the fact that the designer(s) of this just found embedding a scroll bar from a screen grab the easiest and quickest option.

 

[Marx55]

Introducing the SI Tablet:
http://www.thewonderfactory.com

The Apple iTablet must also run Mac applications. It must be a touch Mac.

 

[DanielSw]

My Kindle DX looks like a dinosaur.

Yup.

And this raises the question in my mind: what is Amazon going to do with respect to Apple's new distribution model? Sure, physical books won't just vanish overnight, but even Amazon won't have the wherewithal to develop its own competing system for distributing periodicals and electronic books.

 

[dXTC]

This new media outlet, however it plays out (Apple Tablet? Kindle? Nook?), seems to me a fantastic opportunity for news agencies like the Associated Press, UPI, Reuters and AFP to bypass their "old media" middlemen and publish directly to readers on a large scale. I'd consider getting a tablet if the situation played out like that, since most of the "hard-hitting" news articles I've read online over the past few years tend to originate from these agencies, and I get tired of the barrage of Flash ads plastered around those articles when redistributed by CNN.com and MSNBC.com. I could live with a limited amount of text-based ads, I guess; the news agencies have to get paid somehow.

This would also give independents like Atlantic Free Press and AHN a new direct outlet, boosting their visibility.

 

[mikeoc]

Also, there's nothing that new in the concept, Cerros and YUDU have been around for some time now and the basic principles are the same. What would make a tablet version absolutely brilliant would be the use of motion sensors, as in this demo, as then it allows the changing of layouts on the fly - as SI have alluded to.

Latest YUDU publication I know of: http://www.betterdigitalphotography.com

Of course these are flash based so Apple would need to get over that issue if a tablet was built on the same foundations as the iPhone.

 

[aarchitect]

It's all about the distribution

From what I've seen there is no reason why this format couldn't be multi-platform. Most, if not all, of what was shown could be implemented on Android or Web OS. As has been mentioned, all this content is already available on the Web for free. Then the obvious question for publishers is how do they monetize this and to that question there is only one answer: iTunes store.

Everyone thinks that the iTunes LP stuff is actually about selling pretty pictures and notes with music downloads. I think it is really a precursor to a complete full-bore multimedia onslaught that this Time Inc. preview represents.

 

[Bigdaddyguido]

Awesome

So where are all the posts from everyone claiming they don't see how a tablet is viable and useful? This video sends an excellent point of exactly why tablets will sell, they just have to provide dynamic features we could never achieve with print. Up until know tablets have replicated print environments, in which case, just grab some paper. This shows some of the growth potential for this market.

It is amazing to see how other companies have changed their approach to Apple post iPhone. The iPod was seen as a flash in the pan revolution that Apple lucked out on, saving their company from what seemed inevitable disaster. Then, when the iPhone was announced, everyone claimed Apple would never be able to revolutionize the phone industry and no one would spend so much on a phone, etc.

The big question for me regarding Apple's tablet is going to be how durable it is. Clearly the tablet will be a wonderful cross between my iphone and my laptop for when i'm just casually reading or watching the internet. The laptop will be for getting work done (writing, photos\video\music editing) and the desktop as an evolved server. The question becomes, will I take my tablet with me out of the house along with my iPhone? Will it be useful and durable enough to be justify me carrying it in a backpack of some sort?

 

[EssentialParado]

It's a decent mockup, but I don't quite get the point of these digitized magazines. How are they any different from a well-designed website like Espn.com or NYT.com? Why would I pay another $30 a year for something I get free everyday RIGHT NOW?

Reading a magazine is hugely different from reading a website. Magazines generally have artistic full-color layouts, with incredibly designed content mixed in with gorgeous high-resolution photos. A website is a bit more of a cheap consumable that doesn't have that sort of effort put into it.

I've known for a long time that I would much prefer to read Wired on a device like this than I do trying to browse the same content on the Wired website.

I dream of having a shoe box of data crystals with all the information in the libraries of the world

Soo… the internet?

 

[Stately]

That's really nice. I just think all these Companies are gearing themselves for this portion of the tablet though. I still can't possibly see Apple putting the e-reader abilities not only at the forefront of marketing for the device, ( because obviously it will be, cause it's pretty darn cool, ) but as the only selling point. Meaning I don't think it will be the devices one niche. I feel it will be among the many abilities this thing will have and Apple will make a device so good that all of it's abilities will fill niches.

 

[hugodrax]

Actually it is not Apple they are preparing. Its for The Microsoft/HP Surface tablet coming out.

Apple is not interested in tablets right now. Margins not good enough.

 

[blackpond]

Tablet Confirmed

I like the end the most. 2010. Time, Inc. wouldn't bother putting an availability time unless they knew it would happen in 2010. IMHO, Apple tablet confirmed in 2010.

 

[michael.lauden]

does SI digital come with that sweet fake hand?

 

[chaines]

"Publishers are worried that if left to its own, Apple may quickly dominate the industry like they have with iTunes music distribution."

One of the big reasons why iTunes is successful along with the iPod is the software that it uses. If the magazine publishers come out with something that sucks and Apple has something that works better, Apple will dominate.

 

[CalMin]

This all looks very nice, but wait until they futz it all up with distracting pop-ads that you can't skip through. We'll be running back to paper...

 

[kaioslider]

No, Apple Didn't Invent it........

I always get a little bit of a laugh when I see posts about how Apple didn't invent the MP3, smart phone, and now here, the tablet. For those posters: Everyone knows, or at least nearly everyone.

The problem with the digital music player pre-iPod as well as smart phones pre-iPhone was implementation. With the iPod, digital music players were still in their infancy and growth was relatively stagnant. It was obvious that the music industry was in trouble as more and more people were downloading illegal content - but at the time that still meant burning that content to CDs. If anything, Apple has been more successful than not in developing products not because of the interface or design, but because Apple does the research and finds the market - they see the bigger picture and voids in between. With the iPod it was the recognition that consumers were increasingly seeking digital content. The iPod alone, however, was not the answer. Content, to promote digital music, the record industry needed to come on board, iTunes MS was that answer. But it's more than just that - if nothing else this is where Steve Jobs' vision really shines through - the content had to be reasonable priced for people to pay for it verse pirate it. I have no doubt in my mind Apple understood this and that is why Apple was so set on maintaining the price structure for as long as it had. The result was that digital music sales were the norm, and physical copies, well are what they are now. Interestingly, it took years for other companies to get it right. In fact, many failed in the attempt to emulate Apple's iTunes. So did Apple invent the MP3 player, of course not, Apple just made it work. Of course the interface helped - and easy of use is always a must - things that Apple has always excelled at.

The iPhone was a little different. In this case, the smart phone was well established for years. Here the problem really was the interface. No doubt people have been very productive using smart phones. But in my experience, more people than not that actually had smart phones didn't really know how to use them. The interface required a geek to really get anything out of it. The mainstream would rarely, if ever, for example, attempt to browse the web for information. Here Jobs hit on the obvious "People hate their phones", yep. The interfaces suxed and the best one could say about another was/is that it was not as bad as ....... The technology was out there, but no one really built the phone with the consumer in mind. The other part of this was overall user experience. The carriers control/restriction of what a phone could and could not do. Apple did after approach Verizon first - but anyone that has had Verizon knows that they, more than others, crippled the features of their phones to force you to use up your minutes or buy their content at ridiculous prices. Apple understood that in addition to consumers wanting to carrier their own content on their phones, the experience would have to be simple. Hence, a fixed data plan - you buy an iPhone you get the content - unlimited data plans. So again, Apple didn't invent the smart phone, they just built a product and designed a user experience that worked.

So a tablet. No, Apple didn't invent the tablet......

 

[Mike11223]

Oops

hello, this may be of interest to some:

if you look closly at the video at 2.14 you will see a dialogue box appear which uses Aqua scroll bars:

Clearly a mock up -- If you look even more closely at that pic, it is a dialogue box from rival ESPN's existing fantasy football system, not SI's. Don't believe me? It says clearly "ESPN Projection" next to the projected point total for the week. Whoops....

 

[KCMichaelB]

There is still one issue that hasn't been addressed. Will I void the warranty if I take the tablet in the crapper to read SI?

 

[Westside guy]

ok i'll just say it.. those hands bugged the heck out of me! all stiff and creepy-looking. i couldn't focus on anything else i just wanted them to go away.

I found it unintentionally funny - that stiff cutout hand+arm was very Monty Python-esque.

Unlike the last abomination of a concept video that was posted here, this one actually looks like it was put together by the company supposedly being represented. But using a lifelike hand and arm would've done much to improve the video. As it was, that distracted considerably from an otherwise excellent presentation.

 

[rumplestiltskin]

These devices are not paper and it is critical that the reader has the ability to alter the layout to enlarge the text and reduce the size of the photos (or eliminate them).

This will be hard for the magazines' art directors to accept. The video (from the YouTube link) shows how the people responsible for creating it don't yet have a clue about how to do this successfully.

 

[chrisandersen]

What are they going to charge for an issue?

 

[Peace]

It doesn't mean anything.. it's just a mockup.. it doesn't run at all!

You mean in the same way we destroy our eyes every day using a computer?


They can easily design for a platform they know nothing about, they already did, you watched the video right?

Whether they have to change the final resolution or amend a few other details won't matter, they're looking at the bigger picture and the potential of how they can create a dynamic magazine that integrates interactive content in a meaningful way.

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So you think they made an OS X-compatible device, with high costs and EULA issues that would entail? Just to demonstrate software?

the text says they want to be prepared for anything apple (or anyone else) has to offer.. so why not use mac osx theme? but that does not proof that apple is working on a tablet, nor that it's going to be released anytime soon.. (I think they are working on a tablet^^ but that doesn't matter ) it's just a theme... i can apply a OSX theme to windows if i want, but that doesn't make it a mac...



the author said he was "able to play with it"... he didn't say anything about the "internals" of whatever he had in his hands.. we don't even know if he got anything in his hands at all. It could very well be a "demo-app" which is controlled with the mouse, it doesn't even have to have a touchscreen.. like the iphone emulator in Xcode or the android emulator for eclipse (...)

There are plenty of possibilities to create prototypes of "programs" you are going to create... you click on a certain point and it opens a predefined activity which then again shows texts etc... like an animated slideshow where you can chose which "part" you'll see next... call it an interactiv slideshow with various routes to go...

Actually it is not Apple they are preparing. Its for The Microsoft/HP Surface tablet coming out.

Apple is not interested in tablets right now. Margins not good enough.

The reporter had a hands on with an HP Laptop

Odd how this idea comes from rumors of an Apple tablet yet it actually runs on a Windows machine.

Microsoft is working on this stuff too.

And as far as menu's go ?

It appears the demo uses an Apple-like keyboard. It has an "option" key instead of an "alt" key and menu items that are more Apple-like than MS.

 

[Gasu E.]

Thirdly, there's more to this than meets the eye. How can they design for a new platform release they have no information about, don't even know what resolution it is or even how it will be programmed and what functionality will be supported?

If you want it to be deployable on multiple brands of tablets, you would design it to work with a range of resolutions. If you want it to work on an Apple tablet, you would use the functionality and programming interface for the iPhone.

 

[satcomer]

Clearly a mock up -- If you look even more closely at that pic, it is a dialogue box from rival ESPN's existing fantasy football system, not SI's. Don't believe me? It says clearly "ESPN Projection" next to the projected point total for the week. Whoops....

We have a winner! Good observation.