I wanted to point out a little milestone!
You may remember we built Popular Science+ for the iPad — available on the day the iPad was launched (3 April), it was the first magazine available, and based on our Mag+ concept from December 2009 with Bonnier.
What you might not know is we spent that time building a platform. Mag+ is
- a way to read magazines on tablets, and a file format to package up editorial, assets and interactions
- InDesign integration to go from existing paper magazines to the Mag+ format, with custom tools to aide design, iPad previewing, and publishing
- e-commerce and customer relationship servers, and integration
Over the summer, we took this system from prototype to hand-over: for the past months, Bonnier have developed the platform, deepened the integration, and are now rapidly adding features and titles.
First is was Popular Science…
…now there are five magazines on the Mag+ platform! In three languages. All launched on the App Store, all published every month.
Read more about the platform and see the magazines at magplus.com.
And have a look at PopSci’s write-up of the four new mags. They’re really worth a look.
The various art directors are really beginning to understand the visual design possibilities of Mag+, the layouts are moving way beyond the simple right-column, left-photo place we started. It’s exciting to see, and exciting to imagine what comes next.
I’m really pleased to see Bonnier developing the platform so well, and to see the seeds we planted together blossom so beautifully.