Apple to produce magazine app for iPad ?

Apple might be making it a little easier to build a magazine on the iPad via a new publishing template with Xcode, its developer environment and toolkit.
According to a Gadget Daily News report, Apple is planning to release a template that will "create a familiar, consistent user interface" and "facilitate in-app purchases for subscriptions and back issues."

Apple is already halfway there. Last month, the company unveiled a long-awaited subscription model for App Store publications.

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Current digital magazines - epic fail !!

A nice piece today from the New York Times, talking about the race between print and digital magazines.



The writer notes that in the time it took him to drive to the shops to buy the latest issue of Wired, the digital version still hadn't downloaded to his iPad...

His conclusion ? That current digital products are still based on an old business model and are too big and bulky

iPad magazines need a new blue print

TechCrunch have a new view on how the transition from print to pad is going - and guess what ? Ain't good news for publishers

UK publishers should be damned for their iPad applications

The best magazine I have ever read was The Face, but even if it was still published I probably wouldn't buy an iPad app and it would appear that most magazine readers have a similar opinion about other existing titles.

For all the furore about the iPad being the saviour of magazines and the future for paid journalism, the market is pitifully small in the UK.* (*see footnote) and there are plenty of reasons why this is unlikely to change for years.

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