With the rise of digital media, there is a lot of terrific content on many great Web sites. Do we still need magazines? In particular, how does iPhone Life address the well-publicized challenges that print media faces?
Magazines were created for print
If you are holding this magazine, you likely appreciate its sensuality. The tactile and visual nature of the magazine adds a dimension that cannot be replicated digitally. The full-color print magazine, even more than text-dominant books and newspapers, was designed to optimize the visual reading experience. Whether in bed, in the tub, on a commute, or in that favorite chair, readers enjoy paging through a magazine letting words and pictures grab their attention.
That is not to say that a print magazine is better or worse than digitally delivered content. It is just different. TV didn't obsolete magazines and the Internet and eReaders won't do so either. Having said that…
iPhone Life in the digital world
The mission of iPhone Life is to enhance the enjoyment and productivity of iPhone and iPod touch users. We view the magazine as the core product fulfilling our mission. At the same time, we embrace the digital world to complement and enhance the publication.
You can read iPhone Life on the iPhone
Many readers want the option of having iPhone Life available in their pocket. The new, free Magazine Reading iPhone App from Zinio lets you read iPhone Life and other popular publications on an iPhone or iPod touch. Reading iPhone Life on an Apple Tablet should be an even a better experience. Zinio already offers desktop viewing of iPhone Life.
New content daily at iPhoneLife.com
The iPhonelife.com Web site features daily reviews and opinion, iPhone news from throughout the Web world, links to all the top iPhone sites, archives of past issues, and more.
Enjoy iPhoneLife.com on the iPhone with our app
iPhone Life magazine is available as both a Web app and in the App Store. With either, users can quickly read the latest blog posts, access past articles from the magazine, get quick tips, and more.
Great information in small doses on Twitter
Twitter users enjoy 5-10 microblogs daily at @iphonelife.
Ask for help/share your opinion on our Facebook fan page
Beginning in February, we will make use of the discussion section of our new iPhone Life magazine fan page in Facebook. There, our magazine and blog writers will join our visitors to ask and answer questions, and give their opinions. If you are new to Facebook, we'll get you up and running in a few minutes at iphonelife.com/facebook.
More coming soon
A second portion of our mission is to support all stakeholders who help grow the iPhone and iPod touch ecosystem. In that context, we will soon start the iPhone Life Quality Site Network (iphonelife.com/qs) and the iPhone Life Vendor Network (iphone life.com/vendor).
The iPhone Life Quality Site Network
The Quality Site Network is an alliance of active Web sites that provide quality iPhone-related content and adhere to ethical standards such as those of O.A.T.S. (page 27). The purpose of the alliance is to assist one another in technical and business issues while making iPhone users aware of great Web content. Jeff Scott of 148apps.com and bestappever.com, Omar Correa and Tom Moccia of buymeaniphone.com, and Chris Leckness of mobilitysite.com have agreed to help me get the network started.
The iPhone Life Vendor Network
There are well over 100,000 apps in Apple's App Store and perhaps as many accessories are available elsewhere. It is frustrating both to us and app/accessory vendors that, even with a quarterly magazine and a Web site, we can't come close to covering everything that's out there. We do offer a Web page (iphonelife.com/getpublicity) that explains how we operate and provides contact information for our reviewers. But even that is not enough, so we will be launching the iPhone Life Vendor Network, which will allow vendors to post press information and eventually videos and review links directly to our Web site.
Like magazines? Like iPhone Life? Want more?
The good news is that despite this economy and the challenges faced by print media companies, our unique business model allows iPhone Life to be quite stable. We are an independent company with 25 years of experience publishing about mobile computers. Our staff is small and our overhead is low at our home base in Fairfield, Iowa, especially when compared to publishers in New York or L.A. A terrific team of expert iPhone end-users provide us with excellent editorial content for our magazine and Web site (iphonelife.com/share).
Having said all that, we'd still like to grow. We want to publish more than four times a year, and we want to offer more services to our readers, including podcasts as well as YouTube reviews and tutorials.
You can help. If you picked up this issue at a newsstand or trade show, please subscribe. Also, I would guess that 98 percent of iPhone and iPod touch users have never heard of us. Help spread the word—tell your iPhone user friends and associates about us.
If you have any ideas about how to get sample print or digital copies of iPhone Life in the hands of end users, please contact me at hal@iphonelife.com. We are completely open to ideas and partnerships.
