Comments on: Will Publishers Choose the Open Web Over Apple’s Walled Garden?

By: Alessio

Alessio — Thu, 26 May 2011 13:43:22 +0000

As of today, Aside only works on iPad.

By: Ian Betteridge

Ian Betteridge — Wed, 25 May 2011 10:58:47 +0000

Aside is nice, but the problem with it is that it’s just sluggish. At the moment, put it side-by-side with a native app and it’s clear which is the better experience.

By: Magazine Design

Magazine Design — Tue, 24 May 2011 21:06:14 +0000

We’ll see. Until Android devices and magazine apps really hit the market en masse, I’m sure it will look like iPad is the best option for many. But stay tuned — the marketplace will be evolving constantly, and publishers may ultimately decide to dump Apple — or negotiate for better terms — when user numbers on other platforms catch up. Agreed, though, that the open web is probably not the most profitable way to go, unless your magazine has a devoted following and very, very strong brand identity. Either way, the digital magazine publishing industry needs someone to step up to compete with Apple. The emergence of another serious app newsstand along the lines of the iTunes model would go a long way toward achieving that.

By: Ted T.

Ted T. — Tue, 24 May 2011 19:30:58 +0000

To quote @Lessien’s tweets: “@mathewi’s post seems backward. Publishers embraced the web years ago, and now they’re retreating to apps to be saved. ”
“And by “mainstream” you mean pubs like the New York Times, Washington Post, etc? How didn’t they embrace the web fully?”

Me: The fact is the “open web” has been around for more than a decade and most publications have gotten a sum total of zero from it. How are things going to be any different now, especially since the customers most likely to spend all have iPads?

With Apple’s store they are making real money for the very first time. Good luck with that “end run around Apple”.

By: Yacko

Yacko — Tue, 24 May 2011 18:55:58 +0000

Hit the nail on the head. The web is good for things that constantly need updates, an app is like a movie, a book or magazine, a predetermined edited nugget. Yep, leverage the strengths of each. Some things should be web only, some should be relatively immutable apps and some should make use of both venues, seamlessly moving a user between them (or not depending on what was paid for).

By: Elizabeth Boylan

Elizabeth Boylan — Tue, 24 May 2011 18:41:16 +0000

I’ve been wondering about the ‘Walled Garden’ more this month. Twitter has done an amazing job with their latest improvements to their mobile app and at this stage when there’s so many apps on the App Store the discovery process is entirely a different game than it was a year or two ago. But of course like @Andrei mentioned it’s definitely not an either/ or situation. It’s just a choice.

By: Andrei Timoshenko

Andrei Timoshenko — Tue, 24 May 2011 18:14:15 +0000

From a user perspective, I think web-integrated apps are best – that way, one can combine the strengths of native apps with the strengths of the open web. I do not think that it will be an either/or situation.