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Mike Turro | My Amplify

Why I don’t like Wired’s “iPad” demo.

Aside from the usual problems I have with publishers getting all obsessed with output format something else about this beautiful demo really irks me: the fact that this thing will NOT run on an iPad. It's an AIR/Flash/Adobe creation and I'm sure nobody needs reminding on the current status of the Apple/Adobe relationship. So, given that status, why would Wired partner with Adobe to make an app that may never run (properly) on the 800lb gorilla of the tablet space?

The answer is simple enough - Adobe OWNS print workflow. Working with Adobe means that Wired's designers don't really need to be pushed too far outside their comfort zone. In fact the designs you see in the video below started life as InDesign docs. In some ways this is a sensible move. Yet making sensible moves in nonsensical times may not always be smart.

In embracing Adobe as their tablet technology partner Wired is taking a rather large gamble that Flash's iPhone export feature due in CS5 (which according to Apple Blog isn't working in beta - http://theappleblog.com/2010/02/16/adobe-creative-suite-5-details-revealed/) will not only be accepted by Apple, but will work without incident. I don't care how slick the design is - if the thing crashes or is slow or buggy overall experience will suffer. Based on personal past experience with Adobe's code export features in other CS products I'd say the chances of the iPhone code being usable, let alone good, is remote at best. Add to all of this the rather high profiles of Wired, their parent company Conde Nast, and Apple and you're not looking at your average everyday fail - this would be big time fail.



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5 Comments

  1. Marcus Grimm  Re: http://bit.ly/c6X5Kj @mturro Not sure I agree entirely. From Wired: “Although the Wired Reader starts as an AIR app, Adobe has created tools that allow us to easily convert it for major tablet and mobile platforms. In Barcelona this week, Adobe announced that AIR would run on Android, and Adobe has already announced its Packager for iPhone tool that will allow Flash apps (including AIR) to run on Apple mobile platforms. And AIR already runs natively on Mac, Windows and Linux operating systems.”

    You’re right: the onus is on Adobe to make this stuff run well, but the biggest problem I have with many of the concepts I’ve seen (SI, for instance) is that there seems to be a blatant disregard for the fact that publishers will be tasked with producing this content efficiently and affordably on a regular basis, something Adobe knows a lot more about than many of the design houses out there.

    1. Mike Turro  Re: http://bit.ly/c6X5Kj @marcusgrimm - True enough - and that is what I was hinting at in the second paragraph - Adobe does understand current print workflows very well. Still, I’m not sure that trying to retrofit emerging technology onto existing workflows is really a good idea. It might be a safe bet for those publishers that don’t have the time, money or talent to re-invent themselves on the fly - but Conde Nast? Surely they have the resources to build from the ground up. They should look at emerging technology for what it is - an opportunity to invent the publishing workflow of the 21st century.

      1. Hugh Briss  Doesn’t look like an iPad to me.

        1. Hugh Briss  That’s definitely not an iPad. The thing is huge, has no chrome edges and square corners.

          1. Mike Turro  Nope, not an iPad - this tech won’t run on iPad.

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            • Name: Mike Turro
            • Location: Live: NJ | Work: New York City
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            • Web: mturro.com
            • Bio: Director of Technology at MShanken - publisher of Wine Spectator, Cigar Aficionado, Food Arts, Market Watch, and Impact Magazines
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