Mike Turro | My Amplog

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.