Nieman Foundation at Harvard
Shawn King did an audio interview with CTO Keith Barraclough connected to Next Issue’s debut on the iPad today.
King wrote that he liked Next Issue — a flat-fee tablet Hulu for magazines — in principle but that the offerings are too middle-of-the-road:
I haven’t yet tried the NIM app but I was assured by Barraclough the issues of user interface have been solved through the app. While the titles will retain their unique look and feel, they have been given a consistent UI through the app, eliminating one of the confusing aspects of the differing magazines.
Also, the magazines are not upgraded for the new iPad’s Retina display, which will likely make them look pretty awful. Barraclough says that’ll be fixed “later in the year,” which is a pretty wide window.
Here’s the app download link. Publishers have to be hoping this isn’t a repeat of Ongo’s flop; magazines should have an easier pitch than newspapers and wires for a pan-media approach.
