I found this iPhone app last month, I bought it, read the magazine on my iPhone, and have been thinking about it quite a bit over these last few weeks.
What does it mean to get a magazine on my iPhone? It is the ultimate in convenience. I don’t have to go to the bookstore to pick up my copy. There is no paper being shipped around the country then recycled when I’m done with the issue.
But what I’m really wondering about is what it means to photographers. Compared to the print version, the iPhone version of Esquire has very little in the way of advertising. If this is the future, and I truly believe it is, what does it mean to the advertising industry? Things will have to change rapidly, and it will be interesting to watch and see how the advertising world evolves over the next few years.
I downloaded the magazine to, and i saw photos with clear messages and very good light. I am not afraid of my and advertisings world future. We photographers can set the light and we can manipulate our pictures. The photos look well on iphones display and in magazines. Do you remember? Few years ago we all talked about Filmrolls or digital. In advertising world nobody asked for film.
Film Photographers are a small Group. Digital is overall.
And the best photo? It is the story and the technic. Those of us who adapt their work and way of thinking will master the challange and survive.
Robert
Agreed Robert.
But what I am curious to see is how the advertising model will change, cause if you compare the number of ads in the iPhone version of Esquire to the print version, you will see that there are far fewer on the iPhone version.
I can see the advantages to the user, but surely this is unsustainable from the magazine publishers’ point of view? In the printed versions, we pay for the magazine and the magazine also gets revenue from advertisers. This way, they appear to get nothing – so how do they pay their contributors, photographers, editorial and technical staff? If I wanted to buy a (printed) magazine that had no advertising I’d expect to pay at least half as much again just to cover their lack of other income.
Or does the downloaded magazine cover all its own costs? Do they charge for downloads? Perhaps they will eventually – and I see another newspaper (in New York) is going to try to charge for online viewing – doomed, I think.
They absolutely charge for downloads, $2.99 / issue, so that does cover some of their costs. And there is advertising with the iPhone version, but not nearly as much as the printed version.
The newspaper in New York you are referring to is the New York Times (no slouch) and they plan on phasing in tiered pricing in 2011. Some of their content will be free, but if you want more, you have to pay. If you haven’t seen the NYT lately, the Sunday edition is about half the size it once was. Part of that is the collapse in the US economy, but obviously they have to experiment with new revenue models in these changing times.