Is the tablet the right medicine for publishers?

With the release of the iPad imminent, and more than 150,000 units sold in the first 60 hours of Apple's US pre-sale, publishers are scrambling to take advantage of the new, touch friendly tablet format.

Even as the focus is firmly on the iPad, are a number of competing devices just around the corner, with chip maker ARM predicting over 50 devices to hit the market in 2010.

With this predicted boom in touch devices comes the inevitable hype with many publishers considering tablets as the way to revitalise the flagging magazine market. 

Leading US business newspaper the Wall St Journal has already released its first pricing for the iPad, hoping to lure users with a US$17.99 per month charge, which is roughly double the current advertised subscription costs.

It's clear that publishers are looking to the iPad as a way to extract more money from their content.from both consumers and advertisers.

According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, Time has already sold single ad spots in their first iPad issue for US$200,000, with Conde Naste, the publishers of Wired, spruiking a number of different interactive advertising features at high premiums for advertisers.

So what do consumers and advertisers get for the additional spend? Lets take a look at some early examples of what we can expect from tablet based publications.

Sports Illustrated

Time Inc was one of the first cabs off the rank with their Sports Illustrated tablet demo, including video content integrated with the regular magazine content. Reports have stated that Time Inc will be charging around the same amount for iPad versions as it does for print.

Wired Magazine

Leading tech magazine Wired has also been working on a tablet optomised version of their magazine. Wired takes a balanced approach with some minor tweaking that enhances the magazine format with interactive photos and advertising.

Penguin

Leading book publisher Penguin has bigger ideas than just slapping their current books on the iPad like they currently do with the Kindle. Instead penguin sees tablets as a way of enhancing their current range of books with interactive activities, animation and other enhancements.

Watching the presentation, I can't help think of 'interactive' encyclopedias in the 90's.

They promised the world with had some interactive features which made the CD-Rom based publications more enticing than their multi-volume, bookshelf hogging, dead-tree counterparts. However due to the costs of development, only a small segment of the content actually provided an interactive experience.

The reality was the vast majority of content was still the same as the old books, just digitised.

Viv Mag

Online only magazine Viv thought it would hit the iPad with a splash, creating what they claim is the first ever digital motion cover and featurette.

VIV Mag Featurette: A Digital Magazine Motion Cover and Feature for the iPad from Alexx Henry on Vimeo.

The results are very impressive, verging on the mindblowing, this isnt really publishing as we know it. The Viv mag is essentially an entire film shoot complete with all the associated costs, including digital post-production and visual effects and design.

Tablets promise to bridge the gap between the feel of print and the interactivity  web in a way that simply wasn't possible with a mouse, keyboard and screen. Its clear that desire is there to create beautiful, dynamic content that will change the way we look at print.

At this stage it's too early to say whether the strong demand for devices will translate into a consumer base that will be willing to pay a premium for iPad formatted content.

Unless revenue can be generated from advertisers and direct sales, many of the more engaging examples shown above may simply not be commercially viable, despite their intrinsic appeal.