The Magazine

New, from Marco Arment, a magazine in the form of a subscription-based iOS app:

Instead of the traditional labor-intensive magazine layout and expensive multimedia production, The Magazine’s article format is similar to Instapaper’s: one clean, adjustable, reader-friendly template with HTML, occasional images, and some small conveniences. It loads quickly, integrates well with sharing and system conventions (including text selection and VoiceOver), occupies minimal storage space, and shows the utmost respect for your time and attention.

The Magazine is leaving behind a lot of what magazines “need”. And many magazines really do need them. But I don’t think this does.

All of this is a bit crazy, and it’s not guaranteed to succeed. But I bet it will.

The first issue is an excellent start. Says a lot about the state of the magazine industry that things like loading quickly and allowing you to select text make the app stand out from the crowd. I predict a bunch of you are about to find Newsstand useful for the first time.

★ Thursday, 11 October 2012