TAKEAWAY: While the iPad2 supply flies quickly out into the long lines waiting for them at Apple stores across the USA, some of us are busy actually creating the concept for news apps. One quick lesson: be patient, lower your expectations and be ready for a lot of serendipity——of the technical kind.
No matter what the project or the discussion at hand is, the “warm up” of any meetings in which I participate these days is all about the phenomenally popular—-and, I may add, hard to get——iPad 2.
Everyone I talk to, including people outside of our industry, wants to get an iPad2. By my count, Apple would have to supply the stores with an additional million pronto to satisfy the demand for the new slimmer, faster and camera-attired iPad 2.
In fact, my friend Thomas, a Lufthansa pilot—-he is a captain—-was hoping to use his layover in Chicago to get the new iPad. Hope he did! He says that more and more the iPad becomes a pilot’s best friend.
And, yesterday, during a meeting in Rotterdam, the CEO of the Aurex-De Persgroep, a leading Belgian media concern, Christian Van Thillo, was planning a workshop today with his magazine team about taking some titles to the app.
“Mario, I think it will be a hit if those guys at Apple decide to amplify the size of the iPad screen, to be exactly like an A4, the format of a magazine, then the iPad would be hard to beat when it comes to digital magazine publishing,” he told me.
Not so sure that will be a reality soon, Christian, but with inventive, innovative and always secret Apple, one never knows what the next surprise will be.
What is not a surprise anymore is that the creating of a news app, or, better said, the transferring of a print title to an iPad app requires patience. Once the fun part of creating the concept, developing the visuals and orchestratring those pop up moments takes place, then you are in the hands of the technical guys. They are usually extremely helpful, cooperative and, like the rest of us, learning as they go.
But patience is the key here. Be prepared to have your launch date plans aborted a couple of times, curtail your enthusiasm, go back to the drawing board and lower the expectations by a step or two, and be happy to know that your 1.0 version is the beginning, used to cut your teeth, introduce your title and brand in the new platform, and do the rest of your rehearsals in public, one scene at a time.
I am now in the midst of two exciting iPad app projects that will soon launch——I am not giving you a date here!—-and they will be great when they appear, but getting there takes the effort.
In addition to excitement, creativity and passion, add PATIENCE to your iPad creation suitcase.
The journey is more fun if you are prepared for the bumps along the road.
The news from our neighbors to the north, Canada, is of interest.
La Presse, the Montreal daily, will phase out its print edition by 2016, according to reports in the Canadian press.
But the twist on the story: La Presse will give away iPads to promote the transition, according to reports from Reuters, a Canadian trade publication and Le Devoir.
The catch? Subscribers must sign up for a three-year digital contract.
– Canada: Report: La Presse to cut print edition
http://www.newsandtech.com/whats_new/article_959e7f7e-4e6b-11e0-90d1-001cc4c002e0.html
– USA: 10 Newspapers that Do It Right
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/Headlines/10-newspapers-that-do-it-right-64530-.aspx
– USA: Apple sells half a million iPad 2s in opening weekend
http://www.nma.co.uk/news/apple-sells-half-a-million-ipad-2s-in-opening-weekend/3024422.article
– USA: Twitter users send one billion tweets per week
http://www.mediaweek.co.uk/news/1059847/Twitter-users-send-one-billion-tweets-per-week/
– USA: A Month With The Daily—Is It Actually Worth Paying for?
http://adage.com/article/the-media-guy/simon-dumenco-spends-a-month-murdoch-s-daily/149342/
– USA: “The News Industry Is No Longer In Control Of Its Destiny”
http://www.cjr.org/the_news_frontier/the_news_industry_is_no_longer.php
– USA: Paper erects pay wall – and traffic goes up!
http://newsosaur.blogspot.com/2011/03/paper-erects-pay-wall-and-traffic-goes.html
– USA: How to improve website rankings: Advice from Google and Bing at SXSW
http://www.poynter.org/how-tos/digital-strategies/123396/how-to-improve-website-rankings-advice-from-google-and-bing-at-sxsw/
TheMarioBlog post #730