The relentless pace of news around the iPad platform, its competitors, and the launch of media apps continued this week.
iOS 4.2
With the release of Apple iOS 4.2 the iPad now has the same functionality as the smartphone - with folders and multitasking (along with AirPlay) being ranked as the most popular features.
As each iPad folder can hold 20 items and with 20 folders per page, up to 400 items can be available on each screen. This significant improvement in navigating to content of choice is encouraging users to rapidly increase the number of applications and to add more webpage bookmarks. The limit of 20 items per folder is still rather limiting so hopefully Apple will remove this restriction or allow for nested folders.
It's expected that a further update to Apple's 'iOS (4.3) will take place in December, and may include support for a subscriptions billing service.
New apps
Following on from the critically acclaimed Esquire App, Hearst and developer ScrollMotion announced O,The Oprah Magazine . Oprah selected the iPad as her ultimate favorite thing for 2010 stating "Words cannot describe what I feel for this magnificent device. I really think it's the best invention of the century so far," . The app is currently one of the most popular paid apps in the iTune store.
Another notable app recently released is 60 Minutes , from CBS developed by Treemo Labs
Rupert Murdoch to launch The Daily
The news that Rupert Murdoch and Steve Jobs were collaborating on the release of a newspaper app exclusively for the iPad, stirred up the internet.
After apparently being captivated by the iPad and its potential for the publishing industry Rupert Murdoch and News Corp has invested over $30MM and is employing 100 journalists for the new venture.
Is the newspaper industry finally getting behind the opportunity offered by the internet and mediatablets or given News Corp's past digital mis-steps will this be a dud ?
Richard Branson's new Project
Hot on the heals of News Corp, Richard Branson is expected to announce an iPad magazine dubbed Project on Monday with content to include entertainment,design,business,travel and international culture and is likely to compete with The Daily.
Bonnier's News+
Also in the news application space, Bonnier announced their News+ platform. A video walk through is available.
However Bonnier is hedging their bets and testing out interactive online magazines at the same time with Skiing Interactive.
It's OK !
In the UK, OK! Magazine launched a subscription only iPad app developed by PageSuite. While this is largely a digital replica it is interesting that publishers outside the US seem to be able to move ahead with in-app subscription services.
Little Media Tablet Competition to the iPad
While the iPad continues to reign supreme in the media tablet market, Samsung's Galaxy Tab had strong initial sales of 600,000 and is expected to sell around 1MM units in 2010. However, Android based tablets are currently hobbled by having to run a Androd Phone operating system. It won't be until Android 3.0 comes out in 2011 that Apple may get some serious competition from the platform.
A number of hardware manufacturers are gearing up for Android 3.0 and the CES Trade Show in January is likely to be a showcase for prototypes of media tablets that will appear throughout 2011.
Acer preannounced several tablets for 2011 release plus their Alive platform but most hardware manufacturers are holding their announcements back until the Android roadmap is clearer.
One of the most anticipated tablets, The Notion Ink Adam is also expected by January. The device (expected to run Android 2.3) has developed a rabid fan base who tend to lash out at any criticism of the unreleased product.
New Media Strategy for Publishers
A couple of statements this week really captured my imagination - one from a colleague Rafat Ali who is looking at designing travel apps and made this observation about the publishing industry
I think it requires a lot more than publishers can grasp at this point. It means re-architecting your company around this evolving mode of media consumption. It means bringing design thinking around every piece of content being created within a media company. It may also mean that the start of your media strategy going ahead could be based around portability and mobility, not just another device your content has to be ported to, the dominant media thinking currently.
It also leads you to thinking about packaging, bundling AND even unbundling in a lot of different ways than couldn't have been imagined just two to three years ago.
And from VC, Fred Wilson the observation that publishers "need to start developing a mobile first strategy" - Mobile First, Web Second Continued).
A round up of news from various developers of media apps
Highlights from Woodwing's CEO "Best of Times" keynote and a promo video of their services.
Announced as a partner for the Acer Alive platform and with Samsung's Galaxy Tab
Details on the Adobe platform which is powering apps such as WIRED, The New Yorker, Martha Stewart's Living and Dennis Publishing iGizmo are a little sparse. The current bipmap approach, while having some advantages results in massive files to download and sync.
Announced their ZMags Professional Edition focused on enhancing content — including video -- to a host of mobile devices, including iPads, iPhones and Androids. Zmags is also looking to remake the whitepaper as an ebook.
Who recently launched AARP apps using their coverleaf platform intorduced ACC Docket app for American Corporate Counsel. Essentially a replica approach but allows article sharing.
Of course not everyone is a fan of the current app centric approach but for the next few years until the mobile web browsers technologies improve significantly it's likely to be an Apps World.
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