Mobile vs. iPad

Not new, but essential information from Flipboard’s Josh Quittner:

One thing we know is that people use their iPads, in general, and Flipboard, in particular, before breakfast and from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. Prime time. People use their iPads at home and they use their laptops and their smartphones the rest of the day. What we hope is the iPhone app we’re creating is a product to be used during the rest of the day–it’s a very, very different product and with very different constraints and considerations than the iPad.

Runner’s World gets creative with ebooks

While reading the new (November) issue of Runner’s World this weekend, I came across an interesting experiment they’re trying. Distance running great Grete Waitz recently died, and of course the magazine has done a profile of her life, what they’re calling an “oral history”, for the print issue.

But it’s the next step that’s creative and cool – they’ve packaged the “full” version of this profile with eight stories about Waitz from the Runner’s World archives to create an ebook, available for $1.99 for Kindle, Nook or iBooks and with a portion of proceeds going to Norwegian cancer charity Aktiv Mot Kreft (Active Against Cancer), which Waitz helped found.

It’s a smart way to repackage existing content around a single theme, and to demonstrate to readers old and new your expertise on a topic. I’d love to see how well this performs for the magazine.

John Gruber on the tablet game

Need to get up to speed on the tablet market and what spells success vs. failure? John Gruber of Daring Fireball posted an excellent analysis a few days ago when Amazon’s new Kindle tablets were released. Among his points:

The other guys — the Samsungs, HTCs, Motorolas, RIMs — can’t match Apple’s hardware design, don’t even try to match Apple in terms of original and differentiated software, and struggle to match Apple’s prices because they don’t have the economy of scale advantages Apple does. Those guys can’t match Amazon either, because they have no content to sell. Amazon can give away the razor because they’re already in the business of selling blades. The other guys don’t even have blades to sell.

3 Magazines Canada webinars this fall

Magazines Canada has three webinars coming up this fall. Only one is strictly web related but they’re currently offering a 3-for-1 deal ($40 for members) so you can save off the single-webinar price. Readers of this blog qualify for the member price – just select “MagsOnline” in the membership dropdown at this link.

(Disclosure: I’m on the professional development committee, which helps plan these webinars among other things. If you have ideas for more offerings, please leave them in the comments.)

Sales Secrets of Successful Integrated Ad Campaigns
Featuring Jacqueline Loch
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
2:00-3:00 pm EST

How can your magazine create must-buy integrated advertising opportunities? Join Jacqueline Loch, Vice-President of Client Solutions at Rogers Media, as she dissects some of her team’s recent wins and the lessons they’ve learned in creating integrated packages for clients like L’Oréal, Garnier and GM Canada.
Cost: Single Webinar $25.

Getting Closer to Your Readers
Featuring Lisa Murphy
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
2:00-3:00 pm EST

How can you use social media and your website to strengthen your relationship with your readers—and what’s the pay-off for that tighter bond? Find out how Canadian House & Home uses Twitter, Facebook and its own website to connect with its audience, and how they justify the time and energy spent on those efforts. Join Lisa Murphy, Online Director, as she takes us behind the scenes at House & Home. Cost: Single Webinar $25.

Generating Buzz for Your Small Magazine
Featuring Matthew Blackett
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
2:00-3:00 pm EST

Join Matthew Blackett, publisher, creative director and one of the founders of Spacing Magazine, for a session on making sure your small magazine gets noticed. From public debates on pressing local and national issues to buttons celebrating Toronto’s subway stations, Blackett and the Spacing team have been adept at getting Spacing onto the radar of other media, politicians and decision makers, and ultimately readers. Find out how they do it—and what you can learn from their success. Cost: Single Webinar $10.