The industry is buzzing about today’s announcement of a digital storefront for publishers (read the AdAge story here), but that’s not the only thing going on in the print-to-digital content world…
Conde Nast and Adobe are building a digital version of Wired magazine, according to the Wall Street Journal. The e-reader app will be available sometime next year, and then Conde Nast will move on to building apps for the rest of its titles. The app will let readers flip through the pages as if they were in print, as well as access additional layers of content, launch videos, and link to the Web. Read the Wall Street Journal Story here.
Meanwhile, Hearst is launching a service and online store in 2010 that will deliver newspapers and magazines from a variety of publishers on a variety of electronic devices. Called Skiff, the service will work with Sprint to connect readers through dedicated Skiff e-readers sold in Sprint stores, as well as other devices. Read the FOLIO story here.
Industry buzz apps, content, digital, e-readers, magazine, Wired
The media world has been buzzing about this for months. Now, finally, the plans for a large digital newsstand (from a consortium of magazine and newspaper publishers) are expected to be announced early next week. According to reports in the Wall Street Journal and New York Times: News Corp., Conde Nast, Meredith, Hearst, and Time Inc. are all investing in the “iTunes for print” company. The new venture doesn’t have a name yet, but, in theory, will sell content from magazines and newspapers from a single website while leaving the hardware (or reading devices) to others. The alliance would develop standards for magazine viewing on mobile phones, e-book readers, and other platforms. Time Inc. vet John Squires will be the managing director while the company looks for a CEO. Read the New York Times story here or The Guardian’s story here.
Industry buzz Conde Nast, digital, Hearst, magazine, Meredith, News Corp., online, Time Inc.
The American Society of Magazine Editors announced this month that the 2010 National Magazine Awards will expand to include 12 categories for digital media. These new awards—the National Magazine Awards for Digital Media—will be presented at a midday event in March. The Call for Entries for the 2010 National Magazine will be posted online on Tuesday, November 2, 2009. ASME says it decided to expand the National Magazine Awards “for the simple reason that the awards no longer reflected what magazines are—and perhaps more importantly, will be.”
The new National Magazine Awards for Digital Media include the following categories: General Excellence, Digital Media; Mobile Media; Design, Digital Media; Photography, Digital Media; News Reporting; Blogging; Regular Department or Section; Multimedia Feature or Package; Interactive Tool; Podcasting; Video; and Community. With the addition of the new awards, the National Magazine Awards now includes 35 categories: 14 print-only categories (among them, 6 General Excellence categories); 8 categories in which pieces that originally appeared either in print or online are eligible; and 12 digital-only categories. Category 35 is a new category: Magazine of the Year.
Industry buzz ASME, Awards, digital, Ellies, media
We can never resist a magazine or two when standing in the checkout line at Target. Now the retail chain is hoping to spawn similar magazine purchases online through a new digital magazine newsstand it has created in partnership with digital content provider Zinio. Target.com shoppers can order digital subscriptions, single copies, and archived copies of hundreds of magazines on the new co-branded, private-label newsstand site target.zinio.com. The digital copies can be read on the computer, or on e-readers or mobile phones.
But Target isn’t the only one venturing into digital newsstand technology. Time Inc. is said to be in talks with other publishers, such as Conde Nast and Hearst, on the creation of a digital newsstand that could become the “Hulu for glossies,” where magazine-like publications are delivered via e-readers. Time Inc.’s John Squires made the announcement at the Oct. 14 Magazine Innovation Summit. More details about the new venture, including a possible third-party that would act as the storefront, should be announced next month, with a launch date of 2010.
Industry buzz digital, e-readers, newsstand, Target, Time Inc.
Apps aside, will the iPhone become the new digital medium for magazine content? Perhaps iTunes will become a virtual newsstand for magazines, bringing the newest issues straight through to your iPhone. In a recent article in AdAge, publishers say the idea isn’t so far-fetched. “iTunes is a great marketplace for entertainment, movies, music, TV, even books. Magazines are actually conspicuous in their absence,” Ryan McConville, publisher of Bauer Teen Magazines, told AdAge.
If you think it would be hard—virtually impossible—to translate a magazine spread onto such a small screen, don’t blink. Companies are already hard at work figuring out a way to do just that. One such company, called Bite Sized Candy, is working with Condé Nast and Hearst to provide magazine content to the iPhone via iTunes—and they’re looking at launching the solution this summer. Can’t wait to see it!
Industry buzz apps, Conde Nast, content, digital, Hearst, iPhone, iTunes, print
