As smartphones get bigger and tablets smaller, how can a publisher reinvent content for the new generation of mobile devices?
T 64 o the outside
eye, magazines and mobile are the perfect pairing – many people read magazines on commutes or in short snippets over a lunch break. But
the challenge of converting what is, in essence, a highly illustrated book onto a digital platform with a very small (but currently growing) screen can be staggering. Which raises the question: Is it worth it?
Before delving into how
magazines are creating digital content, it’s important to define what ‘mobile’ actually means in the current market. In the days before iPads and Galaxys, mobile was a Commonwealth- English speaking term for cellphone; now it refers to any sort of smart device that can be tossed in a briefcase or handbag for use on the go. The most common mobile devices are tablets (iPad, Galaxy), ereaders (Kindle, Sony, Kobo), and phones (iPhone, HTC Droid, Nexus).
Increasingly, we are seeing
a morphing of mobile phones into mini - tablets cal led “phablets,” devices with screen sizes between 5 and 7 inches. In January 2013, data provider IHS reported that 25.6 million