A holiday treat! Visions of sugar-plum Apple tablet fairies sprinkling salvation for media companies of yore...
Regardless of whether you believe concept designs are counter-productive or a great way to work, it's been interesting to see how the ongoing speculation about a forthcoming Apple tablet has driven several companies to explore the future of digital media. Specifically digital magazines:
Time Inc. released a video demo of their Sports Illustrated magazine designed for a touchscreen tablet. However, the entire concept might be too rooted in how physical magazines are constructed and designed today.
The Bonnier Group, a Swedish media company, released a concept aimed at capturing the essence of magazine reading (an engaging and unique reading experience in which high-quality writing and stunning imagery build up immersive stories) while allowing you to "flick, drag and scroll" words and images in thin air.
Wired’s parent company Condé Nast displayed a concept video of Wired’s “iTablet” at a promotional event in New York. While most of the demo is simple pagination and orientation changes (landscape to portrait mode), an animated interactive graphic appears around the 30-second mark. This provides a glimpse into how digital devices could turn news into an application people can interact with.
More about Networked Consumer Device Platforms
- What are Networked Consumer Device Platforms? (with examples)
- Why Care About Networked Consumer Device Platforms? (adoption & sales numbers)
- Facebook on Networked Consumer Device Platforms (one service across many device platforms)
- Consumer Device Platforms Capabilities (what these device platforms can do)
- Common Capabilities, Different Screens (palm, lap, desk, and wall-sized screens)
- Designing for Sensors (working on products for networked device platforms)