Twitter has been a-buzzin’ with the news that publishing giant, Condé Nast has begun to prepare iPad versions of some of its biggest selling magazines.

Well, woohoo.

According to the NYTimes,

The first magazines for which it will create iPad versions are Wired, GQ, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker and Glamour, the company plans to announce in an internal memorandum on Monday.

GQ will have a tablet version of its April issue ready. Vanity Fair and Wired will follow with their June issues, and The New Yorker and Glamour will have issues in the summer (the company has not yet determined the exact timing for those)

- Condé Nast Preparing iPad Versions of Some of Its Top Magazines by Stephanie Clifford, 28/2/10

Digitizing magazines, when the thought first crosses your mind, doesn’t seem that groundbreaking. In fact, it seems like a natural progression given all the Kindles and Nooks and iPads now surfacing. However, a myriad of problems do follow in the transition:

How will advertising rates and advertisers adapt?

Will magazines become more interactive, involving hyperlinks and multimedia content?

Will cover rates drop?

Will circulation increase?

Condé Nast has been very grown up about all this, stating quite openly that this is a learning venture, an experiment from which they intend to get their bearings on exactly what the digital world has to offer that of magazines.

On that note, there was an article I did wish to share with you all in the Wall Street Journal entitled, Magazines Team Up to Tout ‘Power of Print’. However, you have to pay for it.

That kind burst my bubble, to be honest. I applaud Condé Nast for being honest in their intentions, not pretending that they know what’s in store for them. That, I find refreshing. But I still think it’s a sad state of affairs when you can’t even discuss and share articles on the demise of print media free of charge!

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