If implemented well, it could help boost the struggling publishing industry, which has been trying to find ways to bring its content to the digital world without sacrificing the magazine layouts we know and love and the ad revenue that comes with them.
The flip side is that this could fall flat—Internet users are accustomed to being able to copy and paste passages, share articles with others, and manipulate content to fit their needs. Will a "tabletized" version of a magazine layout be able to offer that kind of flexibility? Users have also become accustomed to seeing a lot of magazine content online for free. Will they want to pay extra for a digitally-recreated magazine experience? We won't know the answer to this and other questions until more details are available. One thing is certain: the online experiences—especially the missteps—of the music, television, and movie industries demonstrate the challenges of bringing an old media format to a digital medium.
via arstechnica.com
