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The magazine industry is finally starting to realize they need to get going on this whole internet thing. A group of publishers today committed to begin digital distribution of their properties. There are little actual details to go on right now but we do know that the principal partners in the joint venture are Time Inc, Condé Nast, Meredith, Hearst, and News Corp.
The entities have individually worked on a number of digital formats. Condé Nast for instance, is building a digital reader with Adobe. Then there is the digital magazine prototype format shown off by Time just recently. In all likelihood, the partners will need to settle on one standard.
The likely goal of the joint venture is to ensure publishers retain direct control of distribution rather than allowing heavy hitters like Apple or Amazon to resell their content. Can publishers expect Amazon and Apple to support this move? While Apple seems to be happy to cut deals to get more content into the iTunes store, Amazon may be a tougher sell. Amazon will be concerned with protecting the end to end experience on their Kindle eReader. Publishers can only hope their combined influence can get them a favorable deal.
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