Hi all,

The purpose of this post is to keep all discussion about the prospect of SOS appearing on the Apple Newsstand following the release of iOS 5 and also the development of the SOS App for iPhone, iPad, Android and other mobile devices all in one place.

In discussions with our media team and New Media Manager, here is an outline of our current position...

The App
We've had a lot of enquiries about developing an App for mobile devices and we recognise the demand for it. Unfortunately it's not a simple process to "just develop an App" - especially when subscriptions and customer accounts come into it! We've been working on it for over a year now, and are only just entering the final stages of development. We hope to have an update on the situation soon, however progress has been halted somewhat by the regular changes to the rules by Apple. This has affected lots of other publishers - however major publishers have the advantage of being in close communication with Apple, whereas as a small independent publisher we do not have this luxury and have to wait for the news to be public knowledge! Rest assured - we ARE developing something, and we do hope to tell you about it very soon. Unfortunately I'm not allowed to say much more than this

Newsstand
With the release of iOS 5 yesterday, Apple has also unveiled the new Newsstand functionality. This is designed to act like a shopfront of magazines and newspapers. Clearly SOS could fit into this, but as the Newsstand has only just been launched, we haven't had any chance to prepare anything for it. As mentioned above, Apple has been in communication with major publishers for a while prior to the launch in order to get content ready in time - as a small independent publisher we've not had that luxury

We think the Newsstand is a great idea as we know it will be a popular feature and we also know that SOS should be available on as many platforms as possible. Currently though we are focusing our attention on developing the App and other ways of making SOS compatible with mobile devices - and, as a small publisher, we don't have the manpower to develop a Newsstand feature simultaneously. But... it's something for which we recognise the demand, and we are definitely thinking about it for the future.

Thank you for your patience - if you have any questions relating to what I've said above, please ask below and I'll endeavour to respond.

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SOS Web Editor, Support & Social Media
Friend SOS on Facebook | Follow SOS on Twitter

Thanks to keep us inform.

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Alain

Bugger.. I've just spent a small fortune on an iPhone.. But if SoS goes NewsStand, then i'd really need an iPad for that. More money!! Now im going to look like a right Apple fanboy! However will I cope?!
Oh well, at least it gives me an enormous sense of well being from all that healthy retail therapy, so it's not all bad..

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Paul

I own a Galaxy tablet and while the ipad is currently the market leader, android phones have already overtaken Apple and with a lot of good and powerful 10" Android tablets coming out in the next few months its a fair assumption that many android phone users will go the android tablet route.

I'm not one of those people that hate companies such as Apple or MS, I couldn't care less about brand loyalty, as long as it does what I want, it could be Apple, Android, Linux, Microsoft etc.

Last year I had an Ipod touch and I liked it a lot, but due to my eyesight wanted a bigger screen. Couldn't afford the Ipad plus I personally prefer a 7" screen as its more portable, my Galaxy tab being around the same size as the Kindle.

I've had my tablet for just over 6 months and functionality wise I absolutely love it, nothing I could do on my Apple touch that I cant do on here, plus I can also watch flash vids.

However, I feel like the various publishers are forcing people like me to have no choice but buy an Ipad.

A bit like Linux v MS, doesnt matter which one you prefer, if tbere's certain software packages and a lot of big games, you have no choice but to use windows (or, if your lucky, spend hours getting it to work in Linux under say wine which rarely produces such a smooth non buggy result).

Or the fact that Betamax was better than VHS but if you wanted to buy most films, you had to get a VHS player.

Over the past months more and more I'm seeing publishers (whether games or media etc) on the one hand raising concerns over Apples ever changing terms etc while on the other hand not supporting Android users at all, forcing us to either go without or buy the Ipad.

The list grows daily. Yesterday I brought Animoog for the Ipad at the cut down price of 69p rather than £29.99 as I feel I shall have no option but get one in the next few months.

Music apps is one of the biggest things making me feel I have no choice but switch.

I do think its a shame the other big (and getting bigger daily) player is being kicked at the first hurdle simply by the lack of support by various publishers.

Initially Android companies made the mistake of releasing their products at the same price as the Ipad which meant that if you had the money, you would be silly not to go for the one with the largest s/w library. But over the past few months this has started to change and talking to a lot of people, while most say if they could afford it they would get an Ipad, most cant afford it and are looking at things like the Asus etc.

I can understand a company releasing their products on the most popular format, but the tablet market is fairly new and from what I read on various tech sites, Android has a real chance of getting a very large chunk of the market place.

Please support the non Ipad users, couldn't your magazine be released say through the kindle s/w which is available on most formats I can think of?

best

Joe

Quote Ojustaboo:

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Please support the non Ipad users, couldn't your magazine be released say through the kindle s/w which is available on most formats I can think of?

best

Joe

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Hi Joe!

But surely Kindle doesn't offer colour - a magazine isn't quite the same as a book, and SOS aren't going to get many advertisers if they can only offer black and white images

And if they don't get advertisers it's not cost effective as a format


Martin

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YewTreeMagic

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But surely Kindle doesn't offer colour - a magazine isn't quite the same as a book, and SOS aren't going to get many advertisers if they can only offer black and white images

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Hey Martin, the Kindle Fire (released in late September) is a colour ereader.

Greatly appreciate the update - thank you for your continuing hard work on the App, eagerly awaiting its arrival!

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ALoishius.
"Attempting to polish a Turd just results in getting crap all over the place"

Thank you for working on this but a little word regarding apple's new newstand.

I have just subscribed to another great UK magazine (Guitarist) and it is very nice indeed.
But there is a "but" with the IPAD I wasn't aware of; their printing option (read here poor
support of printing option).

1) Newstand doesn't have a priting capability so we can't print some stuff that could be
interesting

2) Even if the option was there I would still be in trouble because my HP printer doesn't
support apple's airprint. The only thing that allows me to print is the HP IPAD free app

Not that I have a big need to print stuff but it just happened that I have just read a very interesting technical article but it is long and it is one of those article that are easier to
read "on paper". But I am lucky:

a) The HP app as a web browser so I can access the mag from it and I can print.
b) I still have the option to us my windows based PC"


Just something to keep in mind...IPAD's printing option "su....ks" but I know there is nothing you can do about it if you ever take the newstand path".

Cheers!

Just chiming in to say i think you would make cow loads of money by having a magazine on ios......

get that magazine in newstand. You don't have to prepare anything - hire a good dev company and let them turn around the work quickly. IOS5 has been in beta for months - you could of easily got the ball rolling.

The amount of views and potential customers out there ready to buy with their rich iTunes accounts is surely vast. If iTunes is the no 1 music retailer in the world, then i'd be jumping on the bandwagon for the print media if i were you...!

I would like to see an iPad version. I have not renewed my subscription because the tablet web browser experience is not as good as the paper version and I feel the paper version is heavy to carry around and uses a lot of ink and paper to print. I tried a couple of other music mags on the iPad and the experience was good. Hope to see my favourite magazine with a tablet compatible version soon!

+1 on android support/compatibility (sp?)

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Mental Audio Deviations

I hope you can get on Newsstand soon. I cancelled my SOS subscription because I prefer iPad magazines so much that I just can't feel motivated to sit under a bright light any more so I can read the print. With iPad reading you get very used to reading with dim lighting and it's nice

I've read SOS so long I'm kind of sad about this and hoping to get back on board soon

Hi all,

Thanks for your interest.

We are in the final stages of developing & testing the iPad-compatible mag, and are very pleased with it so far. Hopefully we'll have more news very soon, but rest assured we're getting there!

JJ

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SOS Web Editor, Support & Social Media
Friend SOS on Facebook | Follow SOS on Twitter

tantalising!

Quote Jennifer Jones:

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We are in the final stages of developing & testing the iPad-compatible mag...

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...and iPhone?

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An Eagle for an Emperor, A Kestrel for a Knave.

One step at a time, I know, but any chance of an Android version later?

CC

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Put the fun back into dysfunctional.
Mr Punch's Studio

Yes, it is definately on the priority list, and I hope and expect it will appear very quickly after the ipad version is released. The software platform that generates the ipad app will also generate the equivalent android app, although we haven't yet tested that side of things as we've been optimising the ipad version first.

hugh

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Technical Editor, Sound On Sound

Fair enough, thanks.

CC

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Put the fun back into dysfunctional.
Mr Punch's Studio

Hugh! You said 'definately'.

That's definitely spelt wrong.

Oops! Sorry

Where's the spellchecker in this thing?

Hugh

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Technical Editor, Sound On Sound

are you sure you didn't meant splelchceker?

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SOS Reviews Editor

Everything seems to have gone quiet again! Is there any clue of an approximate release date (or even month?) I have a backlog of several months of SOS - the ipad version will be great to read an article during a teabreak, and save me dragging the paper copy around on the offchance I get to read!

I believe the hold up is currently with Apple's 'app approval' process... and the slightly frustrating issue of the company (them not us!) closing down for an extended Xmas break.

It's definitely coming though -- I've been playing with the release version for some time now and it's really great...

Stand by...

Hugh

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Technical Editor, Sound On Sound

I look forward to this as well. The Ipad 3 is coming out the 1st quarter of the new year (so they say). It is suppose to have a higher detailed screen besides 4G if you decide to get that version. I am saving up my money for the Ipad 3, and will take advantage of SOS when it comes out for the Ipad. I agree the Iphone or any smart phone is pretty useless for reading on. You get buy on the internet but for reading articles, it's too small. Go get an Ipad.

Awesome news - I can restart my subscription. Look forward to it...!

Any chance that the next issue will be available as an app ?


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Alain

Not to be impatient, but...any news? Cheers.

Why is the app approval taking so long?

Ask Apple!

...but I think something very exciting is about to appear in the app store in the next week or two... ssssshhhhhh!

Hugh

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Technical Editor, Sound On Sound

Excellent!

You tease us
I'm sure it's going to be a case of all good things...I'll be keeping an eye out. Thanks for update.

I think Hugh is being a bit optimistic with his timings there Apple's approval process for new apps is usually longer than for subsequent apps by the same publisher, so it may take a while for our first edition to be processed - but hopefully it will more like the 1 or 2 weeks he has suggested for later issues.

There's some news about the App in this month's podcast, though, with details on its functionality! http://www.soundonsound.com/podcast

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SOS Web Editor, Support & Social Media
Friend SOS on Facebook | Follow SOS on Twitter

I'm always optimistic! Just check out my avatar

But just to tease folks a little more, and to reitterate what PW and I are talking about in the latest podcast, the iPad app genuinely is a reality and we really are just waiting for Apple's final approval before it goes live. It's frustrating for all of us that this is taking longer than we ever expected... But I do have the app running on my own iPad here, and everyone I've shown it to has been bowled over by it.

The clever bit is that app creation process takes the publishing files from our page layout software that we use for the paper mag, and reformats them with a two-column grid instead of three and a page size that suits the ipad screen. This means that the text is very readable and there's no shuffling about all over the screen to read anything -- it looks just a small format magazine with sensible text sizing and nice piccies -- and if you touch the pics most zoom to reveal more detail.

Flicking a finger across the screen 'slides' the pages through the magazine, but to make that task easier each article appears only as the first page. When you arrive at an article you want to read, flicking up or down moves through the pages associated with that article.

You can also go straight to specific articles from the contents page, of course, and all the usual navigation tools are provided to move quickly around the magazine. It's all very intuitive and easy to use it, it works brilliantly well, and it looks fantastic. Where appropriate, sound bites and examples are built in and play at the touch of the appropriate link too... and I'm sure this aspect will be developed further in the future.

So... sorry for the frustrating delay, but it really will be worth waiting for!

hugh

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Technical Editor, Sound On Sound

Can't wait. Can you email subsbribers when it's live?

I decided to go e-sub sometime ago, (trees and fuel getting it here and all that) but I'm afraid to say I now only read a small proportion of articles for some reason. It's to do with not sitting down with a cup of coffee and the 'actual' mag in the hand, so I'm hoping the new app will make the process of reading more organic again.

Bob

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www.bickerton.co.nz

Yes, I have already found that the prototype iPad app is very readable when relaxing in the comfy chair listening to music!

I'm quite sure the SOS media machine will make a very big song and dance when the damn thing finally becomes available...

hugh

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Technical Editor, Sound On Sound

Fingers crossed it will be out soon ..... Sub has just ended and I'm not renewing my subscription until the app is released and working properly. Just can't get my head around the fact that it's taking SOS, so long to release an app and in the meantime apple released 3 different verions of the ipad, 2 iphones, pro tools v9 & v10 and the list goes on ...... other magazines such as computer music, music tech, mix online, electronic musician have had digital subscriptions for at least 18 months...... C'mon SOS get ur act together and sort it out as this is getting ridiculous!!!!

Be fair Alfie, I know it's frustrating but those other magazines are bashed out by wealthy multinational publishers churning out product. SOS is a bespoke publication put together by a very small team. It's easy to forget just how much SOS punches above it's weight on the news stand.

Andy

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When the going gets weird, the Weird turn Pro.

Thanks Zen -- I couldn't have said it better myself.

Yes Alfie, we all share your frustration, but we are now just millimetres away from reaching our goal.

This has been a challenging project for us. As always, we knew what we wanted to achieve and how we wanted to do it -- which is, inevitably, quite different from anyone else's approach.

We don't have the economies of scale of most other publishers where a single 'app' can host content from a dozen different magazines, and thus spread the cost. It has required a significant investment in new technology and in other resources at a time of economic austerity. It has taken a lot of time to work out how to integrate the app production workflows properly with our existing production proesses and schedules. There has been a steep learning curve to master and perfect the technology and streamline the production processes. And there have been some moving goalposts to deal with along the way too.

All that has had to be done with the existing production team at the same time as continuing to produce the two regular paper magazine, the digital editions, and the website... and attend the major overseas trade shows!

But it is now all done and we've had full app editions running through the complete production system for several months' editions now. Everyone we've shown the app to has been impressed and extremely anxious to be able to access it for themselves. I'm told we really are only waiting for Apple's final approval before it appears on the Itunes Store...

Hugh


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Technical Editor, Sound On Sound

Quote Bob Bickerton:

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Can't wait. Can you email subsbribers when it's live?

I decided to go e-sub sometime ago, (trees and fuel getting it here and all that) but I'm afraid to say I now only read a small proportion of articles for some reason. It's to do with not sitting down with a cup of coffee and the 'actual' mag in the hand, so I'm hoping the new app will make the process of reading more organic again.

Bob

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Yes - you can sign up for an announcement email to be sent to you when it is launched at http://www.soundonsound.com/app

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SOS Web Editor, Support & Social Media
Friend SOS on Facebook | Follow SOS on Twitter

Hey Guys, to say i'm frustrated is an understatement ... to push me over the edge was the fact that SOS took away the possibility to print the online magazine to pdf. Even though it was a huge hassle, at least i could transfer it on my ipad/iphone and read it whenever and wherever i wanted. So until this app finally comes out and works properly, ipad users have no chance whatsoever to read your mag unless they sit in front of a Laptop or Desktop. Surely in these economic times SOS would try to hang on to all the customers/readers they can get. Why not offer your e-subscribers the chance to download it as a pdf file?