Major publishers join forces to prep magazines for Apple tablet

Apple’s iconic chimera, the unicorn-that-is-the-unnanounced-tablet, continues to transform traditional media industries, despite not actually, erm, existing just yet...

Hot on the heels of new of Wired’s plans to develop version of its publication for the Apple tablet comes fresh reports claiming some of the bigger publishers are getting together to organise their own digital media push, praying for the success of a “Hulu for magazines”.

Time Inc, Conde Nast and Hearst are all expected to team up for the plan, which could bring mags like The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Esquire and more to digital formats (such as the...).

“The company will prepare magazines that can work across multiple digital platforms, whether the iPhone, the BlackBerry or countless other digital devices. The company will not develop an e-book, but create something that people familiar with the plans compare to iTunes—a store where you can buy new and distinct iterations of The New Yorker or Time. Print magazines will also be for sale,” The New York Observer tells us.

This is fast-moving ground, with a deal expected “within weeks”, suggesting those publishing execs were listening when they attended a few special meetings on their digital future in Cupertino earlier his year.

Publishers hope that by working together they can reduce costs and find positive ways of generating interesting new digital magazine formats that function across multiple devices.

One executive involved in these plans explains: “Unlike books and music, I think [for magazines] it involves designing a new product in order for it to be something that consumers really love.”

The Sydney Morning Herald last month reported that Apple has shared format specifications with media companies in an attempt to encourage them to develop products for the mythical tablet.

"The tablet is tipped to be a larger version of the iPhone. It is small enough to carry in a handbag but too big to fit in a pocket. It will have a touch screen and be targeted at users who mainly want to surf the web, read books and newspapers or watch movies," the Herald claimed.

As we began saying in the just-gone summer, eBooks and evolving digital formats such as iTunes Extras will be part of the future of publishing, with Apple competing against others in the space to develop a multi-function device which lends itself to enabling what could be a publishing revolution (hopefully). We’ll see if those ad-supported copies of leading titles gain traction once they debut on Apple’s speculated solution.

Given that Apple’s solution is also likely to support games, iPhone apps, iTunes content (music, movies, more) and to furnish at least a WiFi network access client, Mail and Safari browser, questions concerning the longevity of Amazon’s Kindle and other one trick usage eBook devices are likely to dominate discussion in the New Year.