iPad-only magazine

Aug 28, 2012

If you are weighing up the possibility of developing an iPad-only magazine, here’s some food for thought.

Native platform offers many advantages over traditional hypertext delivery. To consider a few:

Technical Advantages

  • Gyroscope and Accelerometer.
  • File system access (address book, photos).
  • Fully-immersive experience (e.g. gaming).
  • Support for in-app purchases.
  • Camera.
  • Offline support.
  • Smoother and much more responsive graphics.

Promotional Advantages

  • There is much less competition on iTunes than there is on the web.
  • App discovery is possibly better, if you compare the old school SEO vs. hand full of categories on the App Store.
  • Push notifications.

Higher Expectations

  • App Store quality expectations are very high. Most of the websites wouldn’t stand a chance as an app - customer reviews would bury them.
  • Most leading publishers offer apps, but mostly they are low quality. Mashable, AllthingsD, Metro UK, to name a few, distribute native applications that have inferior quality to their web counterparts. Considering how many apps are used only once and then deleted, it’s a really narrow window to enchant your customer.

I wrote earlier that findability is possibly better on the App Store than it is on the web when you consider competing volumes, but if you try searching the Newstand App you will quickly realise that discoverability is one of it’s weaknesses, not strengths. Also, if you consider how many of your frequently used apps were discovered using iTunes, and how many of them came from a review or a recommendation, the “promotional” advantages might not be advantages at all.

So it all comes down to this question - what content (other than text, pictures and video) will require any of the ‘technical’ advantages of the native platform over the browser delivery?

Even if the answer is none, I’m sure there are some publishers out there who will want to differentiate by User Experience so they will dive deep into Objective-C just for text & pics.

So, is the UX going to be a true differentiator for you?