I read this article and found myself nodding along to much of what Nick Thompson had to say. It was a genuine surprise, given that the Condé Nast iPad and web apps are so poor. Then I read this:
The Verge: Magazine apps are often slammed for being slow, large, and kind of kludgy. Why is it so difficult to do properly? Who’s doing the best job?
Nick Thompson: New York has an excellent app, as does Wired. I’ve also been very impressed with Esquire and Vanity Fair.
TV: Why do you think The New Yorker has been so successful on the iPad, relative to other magazines?
NT: The main reason is that people genuinely like the magazine, and they like to read it. Also, we’ve, very deliberately, kept our iPad app very clean. There isn’t much clutter; it’s really just the stories, with some added slideshows, videos, and infographics.
Naturally, the guy singles out other Condé brands. Ironically, with potentially the exception of Wired, where the extra media content fits well, it’s a disaster everywhere else he mentions, especially Vanity Fair. Slow load times, gigantic downloads and extraneous videos that slow the experience.
And I’m sorry Nick, but when there’s a 200 plus MB download for each “clean” iPad New Yorker, I’m looking elsewhere. Love the content, and I read it every week…on my Kindle, which downloads in about 20 seconds.