I know a certain magazine staff that is going through the somewhat painful process of transitioning from print to digital. It’s pretty clear even to the oldest, most conservative editors on this staff that the future is digital, and yet there is a nervous energy in the air. To many—even now, when tablet computing, led by the Apple iPad, is taking the consumer-electronics industry by storm—abandoning the tried-and-true print magazine and forging ahead into the realm of the digital edition seems like a leap of faith.
There’s no question, at least in my mind, that magazines and newspapers are the killer app for tablet computers. It seems like destiny. That big, fun, glossy, swipable interface is ideally suited to the casual flipping of the virtual pages of a colorful magazine, and even for consuming a newspaper’s limited-word-count articles. Because it’s “recreational reading,” rather than the more intensive experience provided by a book, this type of media consumption was made for the tablet.
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