Facebook  Twitter  LinkedIn   Visit min's sister site:




BREAKING NEWS & VIEWS

Playboy Arrives on iPad, Cut and Covered


Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Following the model of limited content and no nudity it initiated months ago with its iPhone app, Playboy projects the same approach larger on the iPad. The $4.99 Playboy HD downloadable digital version of the magazine for Apple's Tablet gives you much but not all of the current August issue in a format customized for iPad swiping. Those who always read the magazine ‘just for the articles’ may be enthused (albeit put off by the price point), but anyone looking for gatefolds and skin will be grousing about it in the iTunes review section.

The app was developed by Jump Games and turns the major features in the issue into a set of oversized thumbnails. Front matter like After Hours and Mantrack product overviews are here, as is the monthly Playboy Interview, 20 Questions and the larger journalistic features. To be sure, Playboy has put in almost all of the issue, but it leaves out most of the pictorials and cartoons as well as anything more than attractive headshots of its Playmate of the Month. All this for the same price as the hard copy issue.

Most of the articles look good enough and are converted to vertical scrolls of the major sections. The World of Playboy feature is rendered with large images of the usual Playmates and overjoyed young male celebs with their kid-in-a-candy-store grins. There is very little interactivity, however. The stories don’t link to any dynamic digital content. We heard a rumor there was a video in here, and after a lot of digging we found one 30-second clip of the month's playmate being interviewed. Really?

Playboy’s situation is not to be envied in the App Store. Apple itself seems to be banning nudity, so the publisher has to come up with something that appears to deliverer value without delivering the ‘goods’ as many readers define it. The result is almost a full issue at a premium price. The problem for Playboy is that the missing pieces are so obvious because they are so well known.

Given the amount of video assets, lush imagery, musical history, cartooning and legacy at its disposal, there has to be a great Playboy app waiting to be made. Our guess is that Playboy even could get away with a non-nude version to satisfy Apple’s prudish ways. But they would need to over-deliver their other strengths – which are there but not on show in this app.



Rating


If you have breaking news to share please contact min’s editors.


Friend Us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/minOnline.

COMMENTS

min day Digital Summit

Click Here to Register


Finalists Announced! 
min's Sales Executive of the Year Awards
June 3 | NYC
View Finalists

min day Digital Summit
June 4 | NYC
Register Now

Call for Entries!
min's Integrated Marketing Awards

Entry Deadline: June 21
Enter Now

Search Jobs
Media Jobs

App Central

min's App Central (for min subscribers only): Stay on top of mobile app developments with exclusive app reviews, analysis and data.

Please enter the following information to have a link to The Skinny emailed to your iPhone:

White Papers
Get even smarter -- download a white paper today. 


... view Whitepapers
min Contests

min contests
Want to sponsor a min contest?

min Press

min's Social Media Guidebook

View Details


   

min's Second Edition Mobile App Report

 View Details      
            

  

min Presents: The Most Intriguing & Top-Selling Magazine Covers 2007-2010 Intriguing & Top-Selling Magazine Covers

 View Details

                          


Inside min This Week
Events Calendar

min's Sales Executive of the Year Awards Breakfast
June 3 in NYC
Register Today!

min day Digital Summit
June 4 in NYC
Register Today!

Call for Entries! min's Integrated Marketing Awards
Entry Deadline: June 21
Enter online!

Thinking in Video Webinar
June 25
Register Today!

All Events




min
Free Eletters — Sign up Now