The next generation of magazine or employee publication?

I love this demo of the next generation of Sports Illustrated magazine on a tablet. Watching it, I could foresee all kinds of print publications migrating to this  format, which seamlessly blends text, audio and video. Even employee communications could take on this exciting new way of communicating.

What do you think? When will this type of publication be coming to a screen near you?

Hat tip to Dave Williams, who sent me the link.

UPDATE: More on this developing topic, as major U.S. publishers plan their own multimedia platform to rival the gray text-laden Kindle.

Comments

[Steve C.]

Wow. Pretty impressive. But how does it work, exactly? If you subscribe, do they send you a tablet? Do you have to have your own tablet? Or does it come to your pda/iphone, etc.?

You're right . . .it could have big uses in employee communications! Great post.

Steve C.

[Donna Papacosta]

Steve, this is on the bleeding edge right now. In the format shown, it looks like this SI would be available to those who own tablets. In the future, I think we'll see more of this type of publication on tablets and mobile devices. To me, the exciting part is the use of multimedia, so nicely integrated.

[Gloria Hildebrandt]

There is still a lot of resistance to reading for pleasure on a screen. It feels like work. Hard copy remains the preference for many people.

[Donna Papacosta]

I know what you mean. I prefer my pleasure reading the old-fashioned way -- book or magazine. The only exception for me is the NY Times app on the iPhone. I love reading the Times on that little screen. I notice, however, that when I am AT MY DESK and reading anything on my computer, I scan. I tried reading a novel on my Mac and found myself scanning ahead. A habit, I suppose, from years of work-related Web reading.
I need to blog about this.
Thanks for the comment, Gloria!