It has been reported that Apple may be creating a magazine publishing template tool in Xcode (Apple’s developer environment), aiming to keep the user experience of reading magazines consistent across the board.
iOS users are familiar with Apple’s curated experience. It’s something that makes it easy for anyone to utilize Apple devices and the iPad is a perfect example of that. However, one of the problems that users face when using magazine apps on the iPhone and iPad, is that they all work in different ways making the process less intuitive.
As it stands now, Mac and iOS developers are following Apple’s Human Interface Guidelines, a large manual that states how Apple apps should look and function. It’s rumoured that Apple may be improving the process by adding templates for magazine app publishers. We’re assuming this is an attempt to make things easier for both developers and the end-user.
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We’re also hearing that Apple may be adding in-app purchases for subscriptions within the new templates, a model that Apple earns 30 percent on. Integrating a simplified solution for subscriptions seriously benefits Apple and it’s a way for the iPad to gain traction as a way to consume the news and traditional print content.
Although I’m not a developer, I’d imagine using templates would dramatically reduce the time needed to publish a magazine-style app and a built-in feature to easily set up subscriptions sounds fantastic. As a user, for the most part, I personally enjoy experiencing different magazine layouts and hope these new templates won’t stifle creativity.
Developers may see the new update within Apple’s developer environment by the end of 2011.
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