Chris Anderson and the folks from Adobe shared a tiny morsel of what Wired might look like on a tablet last week at TED. What they showed was “live code” with actual copy from Wired and not a fancy mockup video like this one. What’s most interesting is that the design team that puts together the print edition of Wired in Adobe InDesign simply added interactive components for the tablet version with a few tweaks for orientation and such. Whereas some magazines simply strip copy along with certain visual elements and repurpose for the Website, which isn’t ideal. There’s always something that gets lost in translation.
Everyone is fussing about Apple’s stance on Flash, but Anderson says the AIR app can easily be converted for tablets or mobile platforms. The water is murky but Adobe will soon release Packager for the iPhone, which allows Flash apps to run on Apple’s sacred mobile platforms.
(More on Techland: 18 Best Android Apps To Get You Started)
I’m not in the camp that believes the iPad is the be-all and end-all of tablets but the developer community for the iPhone platform is vast and the iPad is undoubtedly building an army, so it’s a safe bet that a ton of money is being spent to build iPad apps. The Times iPad app clearly runs video that mobile Safari is unable to do from the homepage of the Times. Apple is a strong-arming folk into building apps because nothing in life is free. I’d imagine you know where I’m going with this.
Are there any iPhone/iPad developers out there who can clarify this whole Adobe AIR to iPad conversion thing?
Anyway, the Wired Reader will be out by summer.
More on Techland:
Gallery: Hits and Misses from Apple So Far
