iPad Challenges Media Brands

Magazine publishers are trying to get up to speed on the iPad — but so far, it’s proving tougher than expected to win over consumers.

Gourmet, for instance, is transitioning to digital apps from the edible apps the magazine covered until it folded late last year.

Conde Nast recently announced it's relaunching Gourmet as a pure digital entity called Gourmet Live, which will exist as an iPad app—blending its rich archives with social and interactive elements—starting in October.

Conde Nast is bullish on Gourmet as an iPad play as a result of Wired's iPad app, which aims to breathe life into the brand’s distinctive storytelling with eye-catching graphics. Hopefully it will learn from that experience, as Wired hasn't exactly been a home run with iPad users so far.

Online reviewers complain that Wired's iPad app lacks web functionality: no copy and paste of links or text, no commenting or interacting with other users, and no tweeting or sharing or liking.

The customer reviews on the iTunes store page for Wired's app appear to be mostly disappointed, such as a comment by Arrakis2, who calls it: “Digitally crippled! A mere PDF with videos :( No sharing! No bookmarking! No previous button! No copy/paste! No special layout for touch screens! No pinching or zooming!”    

Rick Levine, VP, editorial operations for Condé Nast, says the company is “actively considering the integration of social networking features as well as favoriting beginning as early as this summer. It is certainly part of the Wired playlist.”

Another venerable magazine brand, Time, has launched an iPad app with an aesthetically pleasing design, but again, no social functionality for sharing content. A customer review by Count Cassius notes: “Just wow. This app is brilliant. Only $260 a year to get content freely available on the web or delivered to your door in print for a fifth of that. Idiots.”

A spokeswoman for Time responds that the brand "does have plans to build-in sharing and commentary in the coming months."

Even The Huffington Post’s app gets mixed reviews, such as this critique from theMTA:

"Terrible... Just a copy of the website. The app is almost an exact copy of the website. In situations that call for native iOS UI elements they chose to be lazy and bury the interface inside the content. I just clicked on an article purporting to show video of the moments before the shooting of the teenage boy on the Mexican border... Guess what? No video (flash). If you're going to make an iPad app you need to convert all video to H.264. If you cannot because the video is unlicensed, don't present me with a headline that promises video."
 
Of course, it's easy to be snarky online, especially with anonymity to hide behind. And not all reviewer comments about iTunes apps are negative for media brands dipping their toes on the iPad – but those mentioned here show the lack of agility many publishing companies are finding in jumping hurdles to go mobile.

Forrester Research analyst Sarah Rotman sums it up: “The publishers haven’t had much time to get their products ready yet. This is completely new to them.”

Finding the right recipe for socializing, content, and functional design is will be a challenge, but a worthy one, as content and information-oriented brands look to extend their value and utility in new digital playgrounds.

Have you found an iPad version of a media brand that you think points the way forward? Let us know with a comment below!