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iPhone Replaces Newspapers; Magazines Next

November 1st, 2009

Recent realization while doing a little house cleaning: I hardly read magazines anymore.

I currently subscribe to several (Wired, MacLife, The Economist, Newsweek) and unread issues resulted in a huge pile, at least six month’s worth, that I barely leafed through. All have been recycled or donated to the library.

The culprit is pretty clear: The iPhone. In addition to being a good phone, it’s replaced other devices I used to carry around. I haven’t touched my iPod in ages, and my MacBook is increasingly left at home. With all the iPhone games, I have no desire to get a PSP, or a portable DVD player to watch movies on.

Another casualty has been reading material, specifically during my work commute via San Francisco’s infamous mass transit. I used to habitually carry a magazine or two, and occasionally a free newspaper. I haven’t done either in months.

Obviously newspapers were quickly toast because of so many newspaper apps (New York Times, LA Times, WSJ, USAToday). I predict magazines are next to fall, what with BusinessWeek and the TIME Magazine app.

I’ve had many people wonder how it’s possible to read so much on the iPhone’s tiny screen. Well, the negatives of the small screen are trumped by convenience. I’m already carrying the iPhone with me 24/7, using it for email, web surfing, games, etc. The iPhone is a constant companion and gets ever-present attention. So given the choice of adding an additional “thing” to carry around or a decent representation of said “thing” on the iPhone: I’ll take the latter.

I did force myself to at least skim through that big pile of unread magazines before tossing them. I was struck by how many ads there are, all to be ignored. It’s hard to find articles to read, because one actually has to page through entire thing manually as opposed to flipping through everything with a thumb swipe. You can’t tap on the table of contents and call up that one interesting article; you actually have to remember a page number and leaf through pages to find it. And sharing an article is out of the question, as opposed to tapping a button to send a link to email or Twitter. You also have to use two hands.

Yes, this is true. Blame Steve Jobs for making reading as brain-dead as working a television remote: one hand and a thumb. Using two hands to turn pages has become a pain in the ass. The future is going to be one-handed and one-fingered (television already is), and “dead tree” reading is facing a usability problem.

So I’m letting all my magazine subscriptions lapse at year’s end, and am expecting the inevitable iPhone app for each. And yes, I’ll gladly pay for them – there.

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  • jcieplinski
    I'm guessing this is exactly why Apple execs have been rumored to be in talks with major publishers of magazines and newspapers. Print publishing is facing a similar situation to the music industry a few years back, with fewer an fewer people buying physical copies of their product.

    Rather than close shop altogether, they might be tempted to try a new business model with the iTunes store and a new tablet device/iPhone/iPod Touch for distribution.

    The tablet will be so much more than a magazine and newspaper reader, I'm sure. But if Apple does with the tablet what it did with the iPod, and somehow makes it worth paying for all this content instead of getting it for free on web sites, then we really could see the death of dead tree publishing in a few years. At least for periodicals. Books will live longer in physical form, but I can't see magazines and newspapers holding out much longer.

    The only question remaining is how will Apple structure this deal? Will they offer free subscriptions with ads, and pro paid versions without? Will larger print establishments still be forced to downsize to a much smaller operation?

    I have no doubt many magazines will still close shop or consolidate. And many of the great journalists out there will simply go rogue and start their own blogs, which they could easily live off of, since they won't have to pay for all the overhead of a major newspaper or magazine.

    Either way, I don't think there will suddenly be a shortage of great writing out there. But you will see fewer and fewer newspapers and magazines in dentists' offices and public transportation.
  • yeah the comparison to the music industry is apt. And that said, even with a CD one can rip it and put it on the iPhone. Meanwhile, there isn't an easy way to copy a whole dead tree magazine and load it onto the iPhone. And yes, in my world at least, things are getting to where if isn't on a computer, let alone an iPhone, it isn't worth dealing with. That's your whole point about physical copies becoming a hassle.

    And this has nothing to do with the content quality. There's obviously great and important writing going on in mainstream newspapers and magazines. It's the distribution that's a problem.

    I have no idea how Apple will approach a print publishing model with iTunes / iPhone Apps on a tablet. Maybe there are some clues in how they do television show subscriptions?
  • Mike
    I subscribed to Mental Floss late last summer, and I'm disappointed that I haven't bothered to read anything in the three or four issues I've got piled up.

    None of the content requires much investment of time, it's just that it's more convenient to launch an iPhone app or watch a TV show on the commute.

    Haven't started reading books on the iPhone yet, but I'm sure that's coming...well, when I run out of games. :)
  • am surprised how much reading I do on the iphone, mostly news stuff. always a good break in between playing games.
  • Mike
    It's been really handy when going to people's houses to troubleshoot their internet. Picked up router config instructions a few weeks ago.

    It's like a superpower, or something.
  • yep keeps coming in handy at funny times... was using it the other day while shopping, price comparing on Amazon and other stores.
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