A Tablet Concept That Apple Could Learn From
7:16 am, December 17th, 2009, Giles Turnbull
Let’s assume, just for a moment, that the rumors of an Apple tablet device are true.
And let’s also assume, just for the length of this post, that Apple wants to use this tablet to do the same to publishing that it did to music: turn everything upside down.
If those two things were true, Apple could to a lot worse than pay close attention to the research and development team at Bonnier and their design partners at Berg in London; because between them, they’ve come up with this video mock-up that’s really very cool:
It’s called Mag+. It’s a digital magazine you can sit down with and enjoy in the same way you sit down and enjoy the paper ones.
It shares many aspects of the Apple way of doing things. There are no buttons. The on-screen controls are kept to a minimum, are easy to remember, and only pop into view when needed. Everything else is just point-and-swipe.
What’s more, I can see newspapers and magazines loving this idea. Because it replicates the form of a traditional magazine, it can also replicate all of the content – including the adverts. And of course the advertisers will be drooling at the thought of filling devices like this with the most gorgeous photospreads they can afford.
Another thought occurs: a concept like this is ripe for development on the iPhone. I was raving only the other day about the new Guardian newspaper iPhone app, but it is still a product born of the web. It’s still all about headlines and links; it’s a hypertext. This magazine concept is an idea born of magazines, making the paper thing digital. Without all that tedious mucking about in hypertext.
Posted by Giles Turnbull in Apple Tablet, Hardware, News, Opinions, Rumors | Comment on this article
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You are right. They get it.
Thanks for this.
dave, on December 17th, 2009 at 8:45 am
someday my stacks of magazines that i save (for what reason i dont know) will be turned into this 1/2″ device. WIN!
Willie, on December 17th, 2009 at 10:29 am
I haven’t seen a review about Zinio (zinio.com) from Cult of Mac. I only found out about it when my paper subscription to The Hockey News was complemented by their eVersion, complete with ads. I have downloaded a few free samples of their other magazines (available for $ubscription) and have enjoyed reading them on my 15″ MacBookPro.
Kevin, on December 17th, 2009 at 10:31 am
Quite amazing the UI and even the way the video is presented with overlays over the desk. Love the idea, very rational and useful … makes you wonder why don’t more tech companies implement such rich, yet minimalistic UI’s. Thanks for sharing this great video.
Ric, on December 17th, 2009 at 10:44 am
Impressive but not perhaps visionary. The Knowledge Navigator is what, 20 years old by now? That’s what really planted the germs of ideas like these. 20 something years later, this is a good instantiation of that investment in ideas.
But there will be better still to come, and soon.
And there will be v2 and v3 ….. soon after that.
And there may be UIs where there is no need to touch the device at all to move through, or interact with, its content without implying any kind of mental control.
There will very likely be hybrid content…part document-based and part web-based and for good reason such as for readers wanting greater detail, or the backstory, or related archive material … the potential logical connections and extensions are almost without limit.
Thank you Giles for an interesting article.
Food for thought here.
Chandra Coomaraswamy
chano, on December 17th, 2009 at 10:56 am
who is to say that Apple hasn’t already thought of all of this and the ereader portion of a new mega ipod touch won’t work just like this. After all, a lot of the items listed in the article (even before you watch the video) are very ipod ish and even some of them are already present.
Charli, on December 17th, 2009 at 11:03 am
There was a webpage that showed more than 250 “designs” for the iphone BEFORE it came out.
NONE of them predicted the touch screen that seems so normal now. NO ONE could imagine how Apple could add value to the cell phone until they showed us how.
WHY OH WHY do ordinary folk think they can design “one more ting” like Apple does?
ged, on December 17th, 2009 at 7:37 pm
seems really anemic compared to the concept video recently put out by sports illustrated. that one almost made me interested in sports.
i don’t get it. you’ve got a computer connected to the net with a giant touch screen in your hand and all you can think of is how you can simulate flipping magazine pages? off the top he says that that’s just what you don’t want. then he goes about demonstrating exactly that with a little bit of window dressing like being able to scroll a column while the rest of the layout stays where it is.
where’s the video? where’s the sound? where’s ability to see a hundred pictures in the place where a magazine can only give you one? in short, where’s the anything that augments your experience, actually uses the technology, and makes the price worth it?
seriously. check out the sports illustrated demo on youtube if you want to be wowed.
milou, on December 17th, 2009 at 11:39 pm
The problem with devices like this is they will always need power, and re-charging. Until someone comes up with a device that can run on…I dunno solar power that can actually generate more power than the device consumes, or a device that only needs charging once a week, or month, these things (as a magazine replacement) won’t catch on…
Also, and a bigger issue….You have to carry the device around with you just to read a magazine?…how many people find themselves at an unplanned loose end and just pop to the newsagent to get a magazine? Read it then ditch it…I’m not going to carry around an A4 size screen with me everywhere I go just in case I have the time to read a magazine.
I’d rather carry a laptop/tablet and actually be able to work on it, and play on it.
Stupid idea that will never catch on mainstream.
Simon, on December 19th, 2009 at 3:37 pm