Update: Crain's Chicago Business; Chronicle sports writer promotes the 49ers iPad edition inside column

Earlier this Crain Communications released a new app for Crain's Chicago Business into the Apple Newsstand (see original post here). The new states that it is powered by Redpoint Technologies, which gets ample credit in the "About this app" section of the new tablet app.

In my post I said that the app was "developed by Redpoint Technologies" – that prompted an email today from Aris Georgiadis, Assistant Managing Editor at Crain's Chicago Business.

"I just wanted to note one thing: The review implies that we turned over the development to Redpoint (excellent partners, by the way) and waited patiently for them to give us an app. That could not be further from the truth," Georgiadis wrote me.

"The bags under my eyes and the new patches of gray hair are not only from my 4-month-old son but from developing this app. We have a great digital team at Crain’s and we worked very hard on this product. To imply otherwise is simply incorrect."

So I stand corrected.

I would think that this good news in that, since the app was developed in house (in partnership with Redpoint Technologies), we can then expect any upcoming tablet edition for Advertising Age, another Crain title, to be more than simply a replica edition, as well. We'll see if the digital team at Crain follows the model set by this app for Crain's Chicago Business and creates an app that combines access to the website content plus the print editions as this app does.

AdWeek, AdAge's rival, launched a hybrid tablet edition back in October (see post here). That tablet edition is solely dedicated to offering a digital edition of the print magazine. The app charges $4.99 per edition, or subscriptions at $7.99 per month or $79.99 for an annual subscription.

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It's almost the weekend and at this time of year that means football, both pro and college.

Reading a column this afternoon by Ann Killion of the San Francisco Chronicle I couldn't help notice how she ended her story on Alex Smith (the 49er QB who following a concussion has apparently lost his starting job).

After writing about Smith and his feelings about losing his starting role to Colin Kaepernick, Killion segues into a preview of an interview to be found inside the Chronicle's iPad magazine containing the paper's 49ers coverage, 49ers Insider.

"Friday's edition of the 49ers Insider digital iPad magazine features an interview with Hall of Fame quarterback Y.A. Tittle, who was involved in one of the 49ers' early quarterback controversies, beginning in 1957 when the team drafted John Brodie and culminating in Tittle's trade to the Giants in 1961," Killion writes.

Killion goes on to give more details and ends with "To read the complete story, download the iPad magazine, which is free for home-delivery subscribers, at bit.ly/Q7x8P8."

That shortened URL was not live, which means this was all for the print edition of the paper and was simply posted online without changes.

Many reporters are a bit quesy about promoting other products, but Killion was not even promoting her own story in the tablet-only magazine but one written Graham Womack.

Nonetheless, I loved seeing the tie-in, though I wonder how the Chronicle feels 49ers Insider is doing. I believe the original price for the year was $4.99, which was a bargain, I see it is now only $0.99 – though maybe that reflects the fact that the season is already two-thirds done (though the 49ers appear to be on their way to the playoffs). (The reader reviews inside iTunes are universally positive.)

49ers Insider (like to iTunes), if you recall, is being built using Mag+. The latest issue weighs in at 243 MB and two issues are being produced a week – one pregame issue and one post game issue.

Apple warns its developers of the iTunes Connect holiday shut down period, December 21-28

Apple this morning sent out an email to its developers informing them of the holiday shut down period - iTunes Connect will be closed from Friday, December 21 through Friday, December 28.

Because so many TNM readers have Apple developer accounts, here is the email in full:

iTunes Connect will be temporarily shut down from Friday, December 21, 2012 to Friday, December 28, 2012, for the winter holidays. During this shutdown, the following functionality will be unavailable:

• Access to iTunes Connect
• Delivery of any apps or updates

Additionally, the following will be delayed:

• Releases scheduled to appear on the App Store for the first time
• Pricing changes scheduled through the interval pricing system in iTunes Connect

We strongly recommend that you do not schedule any pricing changes in iTunes Connect that would take effect between Friday, December 21, 2012 and Friday, December 28, 2012. Pricing changes scheduled to take effect during this date range will not be reflected on the App Store and your app or In-App Purchase will become unavailable for purchase until after the shutdown.

We also recommend that you do not schedule any apps to go live during the shutdown. Releases scheduled with a start date between Friday, December 21, 2012 and Friday, December 28, 2012 will not go live on the App Store until after the shutdown.

Regards,

The App Store team

ACP Custom Media uses the Oomph platform to bring Coles Magazine to the Apple Newsstand

The tablet platform opens up incredible opportunities for custom publishing. Companies without their own branded magazines may well be open to a tablet magazine because of their interactivity, their ability to drive direct reader response.

Those companies currently involved in custom publisher, therefore, would be wise to enthusiastically jump into the platform before start-ups steal their customers.

ACP Custom Media, the custom publishing division of Australian publisher ACP magazines, recently sold to German publisher Bauer Media Group, is meeting the needs of its current customer Coles Supermarkets by launching a tablet edition of its print magazine.

Coles Magazine (U.A. App Store link) was updated a couple of weeks ago and the latest issue available is the new December issue. The app has been very positively received by readers inside the Australia App Store, and for good reason, the app edition is a very well designed and conceived native tablet edition.

Coles Magazine is distributed within the store locations so it can claim to be the most widely distributed food magazine in Australia, with 15 million copies.

The app edition uses the Oomph platform from Australian technology company Mogeneration. Both the app and the issues inside are free of charge, as you would expect from a branded magazine.

The December issue appears, at first blush, to be a slow download as the app does not reveal to the reader the size of the incoming issue, but looking inside settings one can see that the December issue is around 360 MB, so that download actually was fine.

The magazine can be read in both portrait and landscape, though the opening animation will only play if you have your iPad in portrait (which is why the video below shows portrait, have to have that music!).

Microsoft sets the starting price for its Surface tablet with Windows 8 Pro at $899

One could say that Microsoft has done app developers a big favor: by setting the price for its Surface tablet with Windows 8 Pro at $899 it has pretty much signaled that it will be OK to sit on the sidelines, betting that the tablet will be like some early tablets that launched, then went away very quickly.

But that might be a mistake, there are a lot of developers for Windows out there, and no doubt there are some who have sitting on the sidelines during the app revolution, hoping, praying for a solution based on Windows.

The base model of the Microsoft Surface running Windows RT is $499 and so far sales have been, well, "modest".

The Windows 8 Pro model will look like the RT model but will run an Intel Core i5 processor and have a 1920 x 1080 display. It will also be able to run an external display at up to 2560 x 1440. Microsoft hopes this will appeal to buyers who plan to use their tablet as they would a small laptop, running a display while at their desk.

The problem with this approach, of course, is that the more a tablet tries to be a PC the more it competes with PCs. Hence the reason some PC makers are not really very happy with Microsoft now-a-days. It's bad enough that they plan on competing with them in the tablet arena, but the PC arena, too?

But I'm not sure any of this will matter if Microsoft's Surface can not attract a market, and right now users are not seeing a unified system here the way they do an iPhone and iPad, for instance.

But as both Apple and Google will attest, it is all about developers so you won't hear any predictions from me about whether their approach to tablets will work. But when I was asked about the Surface by a publisher the other day I simply asked a question right back at him: "do you have a tablet edition in Newsstand?" "No," he replied. "Then what are you worried about a Windows tablet for? Seems you have bigger issues to deal with."

Apple releases new version of iTunes, completely redesigned, with iCloud playback syncing, new store

Apple has released iTunes 11 this morning/afternoon, reaching its sel-imposed deadline of launching the new, much needed version of iTunes in November. They were cutting it close.

The new version of iTunes is redesigned with a new-look store that Apple says will make it easier to find music, books and apps. The new iTunes will let you play content directly from iCloud and see what songs are playing next.

But the real need with iTunes is what Apple does not preview in the app description, the need for a more stable, less prone to freezing application.

Regular users of iTunes will be disoriented at first as the options have moved from the side to the top of the app and the store has moved from being a part of the player to a separate button.

Let the reviews begin.

The Leveson Inquiry report: Journalists and politicians react swiftly to nearly 2,000 page report released today*

No one likes to have a mirror held up to their faces, least of app journalists. Lawyers make lawyer jokes, but reports make jokes about politicians and media executives. Few want to talk about those who have gone over to the dark side to work for Rupert Murdoch or are now aggregating news based on Twitter feeds. Journalism is a good and honorable profession – this despite the fact that a plurality of Americans describe the media as "immoral".

Many journalists have taken to Twitter today to criticize the finds of Lord Justice Brian Leveson and his inquiry, or warn of grave threats to freedom of the press. It is far too early to pass judgement on the Leveson report, all four volumes of it (though that, interestingly enough, isn't stopping journalists and media observers from doing so).

What interests me is the continued disconnect between journalists and media executives and public perception of the job they are doing.

In recounting the phone hacking scandal at the News of the World, Leveson had to say the obvious, knowing that so many journalists continue to be in denial:

"Most responsible corporate entities would be appalled that employees were or could be involved in the commission of crime in order to further their business. Not so at the News of the World. When the police had sought to execute a warrant, they were confronted and driven off by the staff at the newspaper. Cooperation, if provided, was minimal. The two that were sentenced to terms of imprisonment were paid very substantial sums as compensation for loss of employment when they were released."

As a publisher, one who has consistently been judged by the condition of his P&L, I am conditioned to view hard numbers as indicators of performance. If public opinion polls are not considered a fair judge of the performance of the press, both here in the U.S. and in the U.K., then maybe these numbers will get your attention:

This chart, included in the Leveson report, shows the pathetic performance of newspapers over the past decade.

Sadly, many media executives and journalists will simply pass off these circulation figures as the result of the effects of the growth of the Internet – and I will not get into a cat fight with critics who insist that all is well with their trade because I know that behind closed doors they complain about the condition of their industry.

It is not surprising that Prime Minister David Cameron's first reaction to the new report would be to resist new press regulations, even if those regulations are self-administered. It is hard to break old habits and the Prime Minister has been conditioned to play it safe with the media, especially the Murdoch press.

"I believe there may be alternative options for putting in place incentives, providing reassurance to the public and ensuring the Leveson principles of regulation are put in place and these options must be explored," the Cameron said in the House of Commons this afternoon in rejecting the findings and recommendations of the inquiry.

Just as unsurprising, opposition leader Ed Miliband spoke in support of the recommendations of the report, saying that the Leveson "provides a crucial new guarantee which we have never had before. He builds in a role for the media regulator Ofcom, to ensure that the system that is established passes the test we would all want applied to it: that it is truly independent and provides effective protection for people like the McCanns and the Dowlers."

(Background: it was the discovery that the teenager Millie Dowler's voicemail had been hacked by the Murdoch tabloid News of the World that sparked the inquiry. Dowler's voicemail was hacked and deleted after the teenager had gone missing, leading her family to believe that she was still alive, though she later was found to have been murdered.)

But Leveson (or as the NYT's style has it "Sir Brian") said at the conclusion of his presentation this afternoon "The ball moves back into the politicians’ court, they must now decide who guards the guardians."

* They are apparently very fast readers.