Silicon Roundabout

Publishing Tool Finally Coming for iPad?

Chuck Ansbacher | Tuesday 15 March, 2011 15:21

Just one year into its short but important lifespan, Apple’s iPad has done more to alter the trajectory of personal computing than any product in recent memory. If you pay any sort of attention to the world of gadgets, you’re probably aware that 2011 is being projected to be the year of the tablet, with literally every tech company in the world tossing a bevy of touch-screen products into the ring.

Good luck to them. They’ll need it. As David Pogue noted in his recent New York Times review of the iPad 2, people have become quite emotionally attached to their iPads. They love them. And it isn’t hard to see why. The act of touching a screen is enthralling. It has changed the way we interact with the information we consume. It has changed the way we think of a computer’s limitations and capabilities. It has changed everything. Everything except the one thing it was definitely supposed to change — the magazine industry.

Before its release, the iPad was being hailed as the answer to the flailing industry’s problems — it would do to magazines what the iPod did to music… but in a way that wouldn’t totally cripple the industry forever. But with 15 million iPads sold, the promise of a virtual news stand has yet to materialise.

With some new Apple related rumors surfacing, that seems likely to change. From Gadget Daily News:

I’m hearing that Apple is developing a magazine template that will be in a future release of their developer environment and toolkit – Xcode.

This publishing template will create a familiar consistent user interface. It also will facilitate in-app purchases for subscriptions and back issues. Another benefit Apple anticipates is that there will be a plethora of new magazines on the iPad. They believe that anyone will be able to create a magazine relatively easily and have it published by Apple and sold through iTunes.

I’m told; “Imagine a guy drawing and writing a comic book. He can’t sell it to Marvel or DC so he hooks up with a programmer and within days, he’s getting his comic book published and sold on iTunes.”

I’m not sure if I can say this forcefully enough — YES PLEASE.

That last paragraph is titillating to say the least. While the internet and blogging specifically has given everyone of all ages a modern soapbox, it has also taken a lot of the creativity out of what used to go into getting your voice heard. Namely, it’s just writing, very little layout, and not the best medium for collaboration.

Imagine the experience of producing a student newspaper or a zine, being able to distribute it easily, and be able to charge for it as well. As we’ve seen with music and apps, Apple provides an excellent marketplace and distribution model for such things. The only thing standing in the way has been what they’re now talking about making available.

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