iPad Magazines: They Pretty Much Suck

Ouch — vicious review of several iPad magazine apps:

I read a lot of magazines. They are great for people with short attention spans like myself, available on a variety of diverse topics and are usually pretty well designed. On paper that is. On the iPad? I wish I never learned to read.

I’m convinced that the people who actually write for magazines, edit them and publish them have never actually tried using their iPad versions for more than a few moments. If they actually did try to use their publication’s app as the actual means to read each issue, things would have to improve. Right? RIGHT?!

There is so much wrong with these magazines that I could write a 5000 word cover story on it.

Justin Williams there is talking specifically about the apps from GQ, Esquire, and Sports Illustrated. But I subscribed my son to National Geographic Kids, and I can tell you it’s no good, either. It’s slow and difficult to navigate — and it’s for kids. There’s nothing wrong in this instance with the iPad’s developer’s tools, as tens of thousands of great apps demonstrates. It just seems that magazine publishers, having squandered print, seem determine to spoil yet another medium.

Does anyone have any good magazine app stories to share?