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How HTML5 could beat out apps as the future of magazines

How HTML5 could beat out apps as the future of magazines

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Technology Review editor Jason Pontin explains how the HTML5-powered web is the future of tablet publishing as opposed to native apps.

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The iPad was supposed to herald a new dawn of magazine publishing by providing a reading experience through apps that could better the web, but Technology Review editor Jason Pontin has explained how that hasn't quite transpired — for him, at least. Pontin says that the HTML5-powered web is the future of tablet publishing for a variety of reasons, including Apple's mandatory 30 percent share in App Store profit and the expense of hiring Objective C developers, and is putting his money where his mouth is by announcing the eventual demise of his own publication's app in favor of a redesigned website.

The numbers would appear to back him up, after Technology Review managed just 353 subscriptions despite spending $124,000 in outsourced development — still, publications like the New Yorker have found success with their iPad apps, so we don't expect a consensus to be reached too soon.