Hello, World

David Granger, A Letter From The Editor
Esquire (first iPad edition)

The Esquire iPad app was launched last week, and I just picked it up today. I’m not traditionally an Esquire subscriber. It’s the kind of magazine I’d have flipped through in Smiths while waiting for a flight, or might have browsed through back in the days when Borders still existed. I always admired the content and production values from afar. To be fair, it’s been a while since I parted with cash for any magazines, as much as I used to love them (Grafik, Creative Review, Ambit, Bomb, Adbusters, Colors, Popshot, Purple, Poetry, &c…) - most of my reading has been replaced by the web. My RSS feeds provide me with all of the incidental non-book reading I can handle, and then some. But the iPad is bringing me back, thanks to really savvy design and interactivity. The Esquire iPad edition makes a really strong case for the future of the magazine, in a “the magazine is dead, long live the magazine” kind of way. It’s smart, easy to pick up and navigate through and, from what I’ve skimmed so far, a damn fine read. I’m wondering how much of a trend that might be - the number of iPad users who may not have traditionally been readers, but will buy into the magazine because app is well done…

Now, if Poetry would step up to bat with a similarly smart iPad edition, I’d be happy. And Monocle? Stop hating and get yourself into the app store…