Upon its debut, I was summarily unimpressed with Apple’s upcoming iPad tablet thingy. I don’t hate the thing, I’m simply disappointed by several of its hardware and software omissions. Those gripes remain, but this Engadget story has opened my eyes to what will be the killer feature of the iPad: content. Although it remains to be seen if the iPad and devices like it will indeed save periodicals, if content providers like Viv can truly deliver on this kind of content experience my interest in magazines (and others’ I’d wager) is going to grow for sure. Add to that eBooks, RSS feeds, and other rich content and all of the sudden an iPad on my morning train commute looks really, really appealing. I’m still disappointed with aspects of the device itself, but I realize now that’s not where the real value is. As usual, Apple is seeing further down the market trajectory curve than most of us and is waiting for us up ahead. These Viv previews are definitely a look into the future. The “making of” video is particularly interesting — revealing that their approach is not to add video to magazines, but rather to make photography come alive. The result is arresting, to say the least. 
VIV Mag Interactive Feature Spread – iPad Demo from Alexx Henry on Vimeo.
VIV Mag Featurette: A Digital Magazine Motion Cover and Feature for the iPad from Alexx Henry on Vimeo.
i guess.
Really cool concept for magazines, fantastic idea! The future is near!