Condé Nast's Offering for Apple's Mystery Tablet: Wired Magazine
by Peter Kafka
fonte: T@cartadoeditor >http://mediamemo.allthingsd.com - 18 November 2009
Here's yet another content creator convinced that Apple has a tablet device in the works: Condé Nast says it will have a digital version of Wired magazine ready for the rumored gadget by the middle of next year and will eventually create similar versions for all of its 18 titles.
But Condé, like other publishers, says Apple (AAPL) won't actually talk to the company about its plans for the device, or even acknowledge that it has plans.*
Condé's plan, meanwhile, is to create digital versions of its magazines that will work on all the upcoming tablets, using new software from Adobe (ADBE). Those tablets aren't actually on the market yet, but the publisher says it's confident that we'll soon see multiple versions of machines featuring large color touchscreens and wireless connections.
So who's going to make those gadgets? Condé Nast CEO Chuck Townsend says his company is working closely with Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) and that it has also been communicating its plans to Apple. But Townsend made a point of saying that Apple executives themselves refuse to acknowledge that they're actually planning a tablet: 'They're not talking to anybody openly,' he says.
Adobe is creating a publishing tool for the new format, as well as magazine-reader software that may come pre-installed on the devices or may require a download. The software company says it is working exclusively with Condé now, but will offer its tools to other publishers next year.
[Important technical point several readers have brought up: Adobe says its new reader software will run using its AIR platform, which works on multiple operating systems, including Apple's desktop system. But neither AIR nor Adobe's flash software works on Apple's iPhone, so if the new mystery device runs on that operating system, there's a problem. I'm following up with Adobe to see what it has to say. UPDATE: Here's Adobe's response.]
Condé says its work with Adobe won't preclude the company from joining the 'Hulu for magazines' storefront/distribution joint venture it has been discussing with Time Warner’s (TWX) Time Inc. and other publishers. 'Those discussions are ongoing and important and imminent,' Townsend says.
Okay. So what will Condé's magazines look like once the tablets appear? The publisher has been showing a demo video to advertisers, industry executives and employees, and I'm trying to convince the company to show it to the rest of the world. (UPDATE: Here's a partial, low-quality version of the video)
But until then, you can get a sense of it by checking out the publisher's first attempt to port a magazine to the iPhone, which was released today at the iTunes App Store.
Like the iPhone version of GQ's December issue. Condé says its tablet magazines will feature the same content found in the print versions, including original advertising, with the ability to view pages in their original form or in formats designed specifically for the device. They will also import multimedia content, like videos, and offer the ability to synch up with social networks and other Web sites.
Condé also thinks the business model for its tablet mags will mirror that of its iPhone app. The company intends to charge readers for each title, and it plans to convince the Audit Bureau of Circulations, the magazine industry's standards board, that its online sales are equivalent to newsstand sales. That will allow Condé to charge advertisers the same rate as for print ads.
If all of this works, it's a dream scenario for Condé and other publishers. The magazine industry gets to keep the revenue streams its print publications generate without having to make the 'analog dollars for digital pennies' discount that the Web requires. Meanwhile, Condé gets to bask in the benefits of digital' lower distribution costs, more engagement with readers.
Or put another way: Publishers hope the new devices will repair all the value destruction the Web has wrought.
But all of this assumes that consumers, who've shown no inclination to pay for this stuff on the Web, will be willing to pay for it once it appears on devices no one owns yet. We'll find out soon enough.
*One possible exception is the New York Times (NYT), where editor Bill Keller refuses to talk about possible talks with Steve Jobs and company.
Esquire Spends Six Figures On Interactive Print Edition
Esquirelast year used E-Ink for its “digital cover” in an effort to showcase the potential for fusing magazines and technology. Now, the Hearst publication is trying to hook readers and advertisers with an interactive print issue, the WSJ reports. Aside from featuring Esquire’s frequent cover boy Robert Downey Jr., the December issue’s pages play videos, while photos for a fashion spread contains graphics showing an animated snow flurry. Also, holding up the magazine to a web camera, and then moving and tilting it, prompts more images.
All of this is created with Augmented Technology, which mixes graphic elements superimposed over real images taken with a camera. It all sounds very gimmicky, but with one unidentified WSJ source claiming that Esquire’s use of the AR technology cost “six figures,” it’s a pretty serious promotional stunt. It’s also an example of Hearst’s efforts to create a magazine e-reader that acts more like print. For now, it’ll have to settle for a print mag that tries to resemble a website.
Consumables manufacturer Sun Chemical has signed a partnership deal with First Flavor that could see an innovative new advertising method brought to the UK.
Speaking at the PrintCity Alliance conference at the Ifra event in Vienna today, the company announced its partnership with US company First Flavor.
In its home country, First Flavor has launched "taste advertising" technology what it claimed is the next step on from "scratch and sniff" where the reader peels and licks a sample that is placed on a magazine or newspaper.
In a US trial, carried out with a grapefruit juice brand in People Magazine, 29% of readers tried the flavour strip and 60% said they intended to purchase it following the tasting.
Sun Chemical's US ink division has announced that it is working with First Flavor and is in the process of bringing the process to Europe.
Dr Bertrand Lousteau, marketing director for Sun Chemical, told PrintWeek: "This is something that the internet cannot offer. Newspapers need to be looking at new ways to appeal to customers, to keep them advertising in print.
"The main reason products fail is because they [customers] don't taste a new product when we go to the supermarket we always buy the same thing.
"It expands on trying to sell the product in the supermarket, which is expensive and doesn't reach as many people as a newspaper can. There needs to be a push and pull from the publishers and the food industries."
WIRED Magazine Debuts kooaba Enabled Technology in Advertisements
WIRED magazine will team up with kooaba in its November issue to unveil a new kooaba mobile application, making WIRED readers the first in the U.S. to experience its patented image recognition technology. Keeping with the tradition of offering readers the freshest and most innovative experiences in the world, WIRED will use kooaba's app, available for iPhone and Google Android devices, to allow readers to unlock digital extras by snapping pictures of select ads in the issue. Readers also have the opportunity for a chance to win a $10,000 prize package from the WIRED Store (www.wired.com/promo/wiredstore).
"WIRED is always searching for game changing technologies to bring these innovations to our clients and our readers," said WIRED publisher Howard Mittman. "kooaba's sleek new app comes to life using emerging technologies to augment what an advertisement says and how readers experience it and clients and agencies have responded very well to this technology."
A simple mobile snapshot of an ad from participating advertisers in WIRED will trigger the software to recognize the photographed page (without the need for any visual cue, required by other image recognition technologies), then instantly produce a variety of interactive digital options. Readers may choose to visit specific web pages, watch videos, use social media, and more. Unlike traditional mobile integrations, this integration is programmed in after the production of the ad so that there is no obstruction or intrusion on the advertiser's creative.
kooaba, founded in 2006, is a spin-off company of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH). Its mission is to offer consumers access to limitless content unlocked using sophisticated image recognition technology. kooaba software is also coupled with an Online Library which allows users to reference and bookmark pages they come across on their mobile devices from any computer in the world, ideal for tracking favorites and book marking.
About WIRED:
For more than 15 years, WIRED has been the first word on how technology changes the world. Each month in the magazine and every day online, our editors deliver a glimpse into the future of culture, business, science, entertainment, education, health and politics. WIRED magazine and Wired.com reach more than 13 million people a month.
NEW YORK — CBS' (CBS)promotion for its fall-season kickoff will include a limited-run magazine ad with a video player that will show clips of programs.
The video ad, which will appear in Los Angeles and New York subscription copies of the Sept. 18 Entertainment Weekly (out Sept. 11), is part of a bigger CBS campaign for the fall season that starts Sept. 21. The remainder of the magazine's press run — its fall TV preview issue — will have traditional print advertising for the shows.
The player technology, using a flexible, thin, plastic screen, was created by Americhip. When the two-page ad opens, the sound is akin to one of those talking, musical greeting cards. Also built into the ad is a 2-inch-by-1.5-inch video screen.
The player will contain 40 minutes of video and can be replayed for about six hours.
The companies would not say how many copies of the magazine will have the video ad or what the promotion will cost.
In addition to clips of returning and new shows in the network's Monday comedy lineup, the video will include an ad for Pepsi Max (PEP), which is sharing the cost of the promotion. The theme: CBS Monday to the Max.
Pepsi Max joined the promotion because the shows' audiences match up well with Max's 25-to-39-year-old male demographic, and those consumers like new technology. Entertainment Weekly's fall preview issue also was a natural, says Frank Cooper, vice president of marketing at Pepsi-Cola North America. "When we added those three things up, it felt like a good fit."
"It's a way of trying to get out there and reach people," says George Schweitzer, president of CBS Marketing. "It's a rule that 90% of people say that they hear about new programming on TV. It's the first time we can get video sampling off the TV and into the hands of entertainment enthusiasts."
Entertainment Weekly was happy to take the ad. Magazine ad revenue fell 21% for the first half of the year, while ad pages fell nearly 28%, according to Magazine Publishers of America. Ad revenue for Entertainment Weekly fell 28%, and the magazine's ad page total fell nearly 32%.
In its home country, First Flavor has launched "taste advertising" technology what it claimed is the next step on from "scratch and sniff" where the reader peels and licks a sample that is placed on a magazine or newspaper.
"WIRED is always searching for game changing technologies to bring these innovations to our clients and our readers," said WIRED publisher Howard Mittman. "kooaba's sleek new app comes to life using emerging technologies to augment what an advertisement says and how readers experience it and clients and agencies have responded very well to this technology." 
