6 steps to an awesome magazine iPad app

I had the pleasure this weekend of playing with National Geographic’s iPad app 50 Greatest Photographs (link goes to iTunes). Like the title suggests, the magazine team chose its 50 favourite photos and built an app around the concept, including behind-the-scenes stories and videos and a reader-driven “Your Shot” daily photo update. It’s engaging, on-brand and uses the platform well – exactly what a magazine iPad app should be. Granted, my first thought upon viewing it was to think wistfully of their budget and resources. But that doesn’t mean we can’t learn from what they’ve done. Here are a few things we can take away from this app success story.

1. Think beyond the page
The iPad platform isn’t just for digital editions. What can you do that moves beyond a replica of the magazine toward an interactive brand experience?

2. Focus
Don’t try to do everything in one app. It’s okay to focus on a single product that will serve readers well without being overly complex. It’s better to do one thing well than a lot of things badly.

3. The best things in life aren’t free
National Geographic’s app is high quality – and the magazine, as far as I know, has never been one to underprice itself. And they’re charging $4.99 for this app, which also contains a couple of ads from Canon. The lesson? If you think your app is high value, don’t be afraid to charge for it.

4. Use your archives
Remember that classic NG shot from 1984 of the Afghan refugee girl staring into the camera? It’s in here – after all, how could they leave it out? Just because it’s almost 30 years old doesn’t mean the story won’t still resonate with readers, especially younger readers who may not have seen it the first time around.

5. Do what you do best
Every magazine has a core competency that sets it apart, even if it’s not all it does. National Geographic has taken its strength in photography and run with it online in multiple ways. What does your magazine do well that could be extended to the iPad?

6. Involve your readers
One common complaint about iPad apps is that they’re siloed from the Internet. Not only has National Geographic built sharing capabilities into this app, but it includes a reader photo gallery (which, true to multiplatform publishing, is also used both on the website and in the magazine). Don’t miss any opportunity to let your readers engage with your brand and share content with their friends. Doing so builds a more engaged audience and also a bigger one.

Have you tried this app? What do you think? What other great things are magazines doing on the iPad?

Quoted: On Apple’s subscription model

From tech blogger John Gruber of Daring Fireball:

The idea with Apple’s 70-30 revenue split is that developers and publishers can make it up in volume — that people aren’t just somewhat more willing to pay for content through iTunes than other online content stores, they are far more willing. The idea is that Apple has cracked a nut no one else¹ has — they’ve created an ecosystem where hundreds of millions of people are willing to pay for digital content.

Unfortunately he’s missing a few complexities of the issue from the publishers’ perspective, most notably name-gathering (although many analysts are for good reason not sympathetic about its absence in Apple’s model), but it’s a good read and raises some important points.

5 reasons to choose apps over mobile sites

In the rush to get your content out to mobile users, one big choice is whether to develop an app – often just for the iPhone, as app development for BlackBerrys [how on earth do you pluralize that?] is complicated – or a mobile-friendly website. In a discussion I had last week with Philippe Girard of Montreal-based consultancy OS Communications, he came out strongly in favour of apps, a position I agree with. Philippe shared with me an article he’d written on the topic for the French market, which I translated for my audience – so if anything doesn’t make sense, please blame the translator and ask questions in the comments. I’d love to hear your experience and opinion as well, either as a mobile user or a developer.

Mobile applications are very popular these days – as they should be, as they offer real advantages both for users and for businesses as compared to websites adapted for mobile.

1. Unparalleled user experience
Native applications are created with the help of development tools designed for the mobile platform. Application designers plan the interface (navigation buttons, text size, layout of menus, sharing content by social media or email, voice detection, etc.) based on defined ergonomic standards before adapting the graphics to the device’s screen as opposed to trying to fit the visuals of a full website into the screen.

Loading time of content and images is a lot quicker with a native application, and the content can be viewed when the user is offline – a clear advantage over the web. Users who have a high-quality experience are much more likely to use the application frequently, and to recommend it to their network.

2. Simplified accessibility
People have a limited capacity to memorize domain names, which is why application stores like Apple’s App Store exist. These virtual stores offer an environment where consumers can find a wide variety of applications that will interest them, all in one place. Consumers can, all through a single account, purchase, download and install the applications of their choice – a process that is much easier and quicker than finding the right mobile URL for each website.

In addition, applications for sale in stores, especially Apple’s, conform to strict quality standards, something that is not necessarily the case on mobile websites.

3. Icons: fabulous memory aids
In a world where simplicity of use prevails, icons are highly recommended. Visually attractive, they are a much more inviting point of reference than the long list of “favourites” in your web browser. Native applications in the App Store include their own individual icon. These icons are powerful memory aids, as they live on the screen of your phone. Can you say this about mobile web applications?

4. Push notifications
In order to keep consumers coming back, native applications are equipped with the ability to send push notifications, a system that sends or displays alerts when new messages or notifications are available, even when the application is inactive. This feature is not offered with mobile web applications.

5. Everyone talks about it
Launching a native application isn’t just trendy – it’s a PR event in itself. What a great way to showcase your business and its products or brands to current and potential clients. It’s a side benefit to take advantage of that isn’t the same for the launch of a mobile site.

And finally, another advantage will soon be added to the list. It will soon be possible to manage ad space in an application using Apple’s new iAd system in order to collect supplementary revenue from it. Another way to make yourself noticed.

How to make readers pay

From a Guardian article on what Apple can do for journalism:

Online, readers don’t want to mess around too much with their credit card … Payment has to be simple and elegant. Click and run, and don’t think about it. Apple can offer that: there are more than 100 million iTunes accounts with credit cards already.