WHAT I’VE BEEN READING: The WIRED app for the iPad

3 Comments | Posted: May 27th, 2010 | Filed under: iPaddery, What I've Been Reading | Tags: ,

It’s pretty neat. There’s a lot to be said for embedding video and audio, (even – if not especially — in revenue-generating ads) and the interactivity in articles (click buttons to view different products that are being reviewed on the same page, or get a step-by step of the assembly of that famous ice hotel or listen to a Trent Reznor track in progress) is handled in an unobtrusive, natural manner that reminds me of a highly-refined version of their website. There are issues, though: the vertical scrolling inside of an article is not obvous enough and I was honestly a bit confused the first time I came across it and while editorial has worked hard to make sure the layout works in both landscape and portrait orientations, there’s at least one article fragment in the inaugural installment that is driving me up the wall

Still, $5 for a future magazine that doesn’t litter my floor with those annoying subscription cards and cleverly gets me to look at and interact with advertising? That’s a perfect price point. This is the first issue of Wired I’ve read cover-to-cover in years and I’m pretty sure they’ve got their hooks in me for future installments.

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3 Comments on “WHAT I’VE BEEN READING: The WIRED app for the iPad”

  1. 1 Jason said at 2:58 pm on May 27th, 2010:

    I’m interested to take a look at this format when I eventually get my mitts on an iPad, but $5 for a single issue when my current print subscription runs $10 a year sounds a bit steep. While I hate those cards too, they’re gone with minutes of the magazine leaving its wrapper. While I’m willing to pay a premium for the convenience of not have to deal with a physical magazine to lose or throw away, I don’t think I’m willing to pay that much more.

  2. 2 Bully said at 1:35 pm on May 28th, 2010:

    Five bucks an issue via iPad, ten bucks for twelve hardcopy issues via subscription. That’s a big gap. I’m not one of those critics that say everything online must be free or priced at 99¢, but that’s an easy decision for me to make on spending versus content.

  3. 3 Kevin Church said at 2:04 pm on May 29th, 2010:

    Except in this case, the content is improved upon and presented with video, audio, and more. Consider it a “director’s cut” of each issue, I guess?