New York Times on Apple iPad →
As expected, there's a native New York Times Reader App on the freshly announced iPad and it reminds me a lot of Times Reader 2.0, an Adobe AIR-based application for PC. Apparently it has been co-developed by teams of the New York Times and Apple.
Times Reader 2.0 already sort of indicated that, with its flat information architecture and higly flexible layout that dynamically adapts to different screen sizes. I always thought it could also easily be scaled for the TV - the adaptive grid mechanism already works great in HD and font sizes can be changed; and again, the navigation system works with five keys (you can also control the whole browsing and reading experience with your PC keyboard).
I always liked the Times Reader - it has a very well-thought and polished user interface and works much better than most other AIR-based apps I have seen so far. Also, I think the rather print-oriented visual design is perfectly appropriate for a newspaper application and combines both worlds in a very elegant way. And that's something that will very likely improve a lot with devices such as the iPad (please read what Mario Garcia has to say about storytelling in this regard).
The Times Reader 2.0 is an alternative presentation of New York Times print issues, though. There's a subscribtion model behind it, subscribers of the print version get it as a free supplementation - quite handy if you're not at home or wnat to go through older issues. While I fully understand that approach from a strategic and business point of view, I think it's a major drawback for my personal reading experience. What I love about Times Reader 2.0 is the way it let's me consume news content, and that's nowadays much more than the print issues. As a loyal reader of the Bits Blog, I really want that kind of interface for all New York Times content that is available online. And I'm not saying I want it for free.
I think it will be inetresting to see if the New York Times app for the iPad is going to offer the full scope of available content - including all these great multimedia features and data visualizations.
