A New World. Literally.
To realize the potential of the iPad, one must realize that it is global. It is a group of designers in Seoul, South Korea, producing Cine21, an interactive magazine of which I can’t read a word but can’t help but come away inspired and intimidated by the sheer genius behind it.
It is two happy-go-lucky entrepreneurs in Bussum, The Netherlands, who have created a library of travelogues called TRVL that generates five-star ratings and 40,000 downloads every month, and is poised to triple in size over the next year.
It is the editorial team at Seven in London, packed into a space no bigger than a studio apartment to invent an digital experience that first won raves for its bells and whistles and now builds loyalty with its sophisticated content.
It is the ageless Mario Garcia, newspaper designer of the world with more than 550 nameplates to his credit, traipsing from continent to continent to challenge publishers everywhere to address the iPad opportunity as if yesterday never existed.
It is our newest addition at Joe Zeff Design, a computer programmer in Gierle, Belgium who taps into our passion to reinvent publishing standards through a shared sense of commitment and a Skype connection in his bedroom.
It is tiny PiMedia in Oslo, Norway, a year-old company operating in the shadows of much larger competitors that helps corporations reach new audiences in new ways through the iPad.
It is the ambitious group at Habilis in Sao Paulo, Brazil, that is helping the world’s leading brands truly engage by developing interactive experiences while larger agencies in the United States struggle to mobilize and strategize.
It is those in Cape Town, Tokyo and elsewhere who have reached across boundaries to engage new insights into how to best address the opportunity before them, choosing to dive in today rather than wait for others to define their future.
It is the visionary team at WoodWing Software outside of Amsterdam that brought together this incredible group of people last week at its WoodWing Xperience to realize Marshall McLuhan’s vision, and empowered them with tools to create digital publications packed with maximum impact and minimal programming. (Joe Zeff Design's Xperience presentation, "Reinvent Everything," is here.)
And it is you. And me. Together, we are changing the world, one screen at a time. It begins with magazines and newspapers and continues by taking the riches of publishing — and its power to connect with audiences — and infusing them into education, business, medicine, technology, retail, entertainment and beyond. The stories we tell are no longer confined to one medium. Or one audience. Or one country. It is as powerful as the sweeping change that has altered the geopolitical landscape in recent years by galvanizing disenfranchised groups through technology and toppling oligarchies overnight.
It is global. And it is happening. Not five years from now when some expect there to be 500 million iPads. Not one year from now when some predict 85 million iPads.
Today.