A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to see Chris Anderson, editor in chief of Wired magazine, present an idea at Ad:Tech San Francisco. He’s also the author of The Long Tail and Free.
Anderson seems to have a strong vision and strong voice for what’s going on and what’s happening next.
Chris Anderson sees a future for magazine publishing; it's all about the tablet.
His idea involves Wired, Adobe, Apple’s iPad and a healthy future for magazine publishers like Conde Nast (Wired, Vogue, GQ, and loads more).
He’s presented this idea for a few months now, so I won’t belabor it. Instead, I’ll share my version of it in bullet-point form.
- The tablet is the “third great platform” (PC > phone > tablet)
- The tablet is permitted by the movement of of storage and computing/processing off the local machine and into “the cloud”
- The web lowers barrier to entry and eliminates scarcity so competition is wide open
- If the tablet goes rich and dynamic, traditional media may once again be able to deliver their skills in a commanding way
- Wired/Conde Nast is working with Adobe to establish new publishing process
- They’re seeking the efficiencies of digital, but with the pricing of analog – need a new economic model to survive, tablet era provides opportunity to create new model
- Magazines provide the height of production value – layout, design, photos, etc
- HTML and browsers limit the reproduction of this rich experience online – the magazine is lost in translation
- At present, Wired magazine and wired.com are produced and sold by two separate groups
- In a new future, digital can be designed and sold in parallel with print, simultaneously
- Same thoughts, same people, same process
- Print, portrait and landscape displays all laid out at once
- It can be made to be worth paying for, not “less than print” like HTML/browser reproduction, but actually more
- For the first time ever, Anderson sees a 21st century magazine business
I don’t have the knowledge, foresight or even interest to judge whether or not the tablet will, in fact, become the third great platform.
I support the production values argument, but the web has proven “good enough” for most people.
I also feel strongly that new economic models for publishers based in yesterday’s media must be developed. So many people take such great pride in not watching TV, not reading magazines and not subscribing to newspapers. Example: “I just get my news from Google.” Meanwhile, a disproportionately high portion of their media consumption online is provided free by television-, magazine- and newspaper-based publishers. This can’t go on forever.
So: good luck to Anderson, Adobe and Conde Nast – I wish healthy futures for all content producers, especially ones pushing forward production and display.
HP Slate (their tablet) versus Apple iPad: engadget
Verizon and Google team to make tablet: gizmodo
Another take on his keynote speech: Mobile Marketer
Chris Anderson’s blog: The Long Tail
Chris Anderson on Twitter: chr1sa
Video Demo of Wired Magazine on iPad
iPad Billboard high over Union Square, San Francisco:
iPad Billboard over Union Square, San Francisco
