TAKEAWAY: Last October in Vienna, at the WAN-IFRA Conference, I had the privilege of appearing as moderator and presenter of a panel all about the tablet. My presentation was titled “Ten Lessons I have learned in the past 20 Months Creating News Apps”. Now I have added one more lesson for the start of 2012.
Add one more valuable lesson!
Just this week I had a request from an international organization publishing a late January report about trends in the industry. Specifically, the editor of the publication wanted me to comment on my presentation in October for the WAN IFRA Conference in Vienna. In that presentation I had outlined 10 lessons we have learned why creating news iPad apps. Some of you may recall that blog post, too.
As we start a new year, I have added Lesson #11:
Lesson 11: See your entrance into the news app world as a totally evolutionary one. Don’t attempt to do it all in that first 1.0 version. Take it one solid but simple step at a time. Then plan your evolutionary strategy of how you introduce subsequent versions. We have learned that overly ambitious teams get frustrated and tired easily. Map your journey into your news app edition and let it evolve naturally.
The 10 Lessons
1. Telling Stories Across Platforms: Lesson 1: we must think in terms of a media quartet
2. What the Tablet Is: Lesson 2: a platform that must be conceptualized to accommodate its uniqueness
3. The Lean Back Platform: Lesson 3: all available research shows a preference for evening use of the tablet
4. What the Tablet is Not: Lesson 4: It is not a replication of the print/online experience.It goes beyond to create an immersive experience (remember the finger)
5. Covering Three Tracks: Lesson 5: Users want their newspaper tablet apps to have the three main tracks of
curated edition, news updates and e-readers
6. The Tablet and Design: Lesson 6: Make it sophisticatedly simple
7. Create Those Pop Up Moments: Lesson 7: allow for a curiously impatient finger
8. Pay Attention to the Essentials: Lesson 8: start with a good sense of navigation, make sure user always knows how to go from point A to point C or Z
9. Make It Functional: Lesson 9: remember what the users are coming to your tablet for
10. Consider a Curated Edition: Lesson 10: At its best, a news app is especially edited and prepared
An Apple textbook in your future?
If you happen to be in New York City on January 19, you may stop by the Guggenheim Museum. Apple’s holding an “education event” that day. Although nobody knows what the event entails, there have been strong rumors of Apple getting into the textbook distribution business and optimizing educational content for the iPad.
Stay tuned. Could the Apple textbook in your iPad be far behind?
http://www.theverge.com/2012/1/11/2699684/apple-education-event-set-for-january-19th-in-nyc