Digital Magazine News Wire | 04.30.10

Navigating the E-Reader World

Overwhelmed by the choices in the growing e-reader market? Nxtbook Media has released its e-Reader Guide 2010, which offers a critique of devices ranging from smart tools like the iPhone, iPad and Android to dedicated e-readers like the Kindle, Nook and Sony’s Calibre.

The guide includes specs (weight, screen size, display description) as well as price ranges and a description of how Nxtbook works with each device.


Steve Jobs Bashes Flash, Again

In an open letter posted recently on Apple.com, Apple co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs unleashed another tirade on Adobe’s online animation service Flash, listing all the reasons Apple decided its growing army of products—the iPhone, iPod touch and now the iPad—won’t support it. Instead, it utilizes open services like HTML5, CSS and JavaScript.

Jobs’ “most important” argument in his more than 1,600-word letter is that Adobe wants developers to adopt Flash to create apps that run on Apple’s devices. “We know from painful experience that letting a third party layer of software come between the platform and the developer ultimately results in sub-standard apps and hinders the enhancement and progress of the platform,” he writes. “If developers grow dependent on third party development libraries and tools, they can only take advantage of platform enhancements if and when the third party chooses to adopt the new features. We cannot be at the mercy of a third party deciding if and when they will make our enhancements available to our developers.”

In addition, Jobs argues that Flash is a closed, 100 percent proprietary system (so is Apple’s operating system for the iPhone, iPod and iPad), it drains the battery life of mobile devices and doesn’t support touch based devices. Click here to read Jobs’ full letter.


In More Flash-Related News …

Condé Nast announced late last year that it had partnered with Adobe to build a magazine application that will enable the publisher to deploy its magazines on a number of digital devices, including computers, smartphones and color e-readers. A wrench was thrown in those plans when Apple said it wouldn’t support Adobe’s Flash on it iPad e-reader device.

Since then, Adobe has said that it no longer will pursue its intention to bring Flash to Apple’s devices, “ceasing investment in a software tool that enables Flash developers to port software into native iPhone and iPad apps.” Condé Nast and Adobe’s partnership is ongoing.


Tablet Draws Web Surfers to Wired

Three weeks after the first Apple iPads reached the hands of consumers, Wired magazine says 26 percent of mobile traffic to Wired.com comes from iPad users.

On average, traffic from mobile devices make up 2.3 percent to 3.5 percent of the site’s overall traffic. From April 3 to 19, iPad users represented a little less than 1 percent of the site’s total traffic.

According to Wired.com’s Dylan Tweney: “One conclusion we can draw:  iPad users are using it to browse the Web, and they’re doing it a lot.” Tweney also said the site is working on making the Flash-driven videos on its site accessible to iPad users.


YUDU Comes to the U.S.

Not long after partnering with U.S.-based printer Quad/Graphics, U.K.-based YUDU Media  has opened an office outside of Boston.

In addition, the digital publishing vendor has unveiled a cross-platform self-publishing service that enables users of its YUDU Pro product to create digital publications for the Web, iPad and iPhone by using custom-built and branded apps. The company says it is the first step in what it calls its “publish once, view everywhere” approach to digital publishing.

YUDU says its self-publishing service utilizes fixed-page layouts as well as “rich view” capability, making it possible for content to automatically reflow and adapt to fit the size of each device.

Quad/Graphics owns a minority stake in YUDU.

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