Adobe reveals magazine iPad-izer software

The Flash Player may be banned from the iPad, but that's not keeping Adobe Systems from other efforts to leave its mark on the Apple devices. The latest development: new viewer software announced Monday that lets publishers create splashy digital versions of their magazines. With the software, publishers can use Adobe's new InDesign CS5 layout software to create the digital version, then distribute the content packaged with the viewer. The showcase example: Conde Nast's iPad version of Wired, available through Apple's App Store.

A demonstration of the Wired magazine app for the iPad, a digital magazine produced with Adobe software.(Credit: screenshot by Stephen Shankland/CNET)

The software hasn't been launched yet. "We aim to make our digital viewer software available to all publishers soon and plan to deliver versions that work across multiple hardware platforms," David Burkett, Adobe's vice president and general manager of Creative Solutions, said in a statement. Adobe didn't release pricing information. The viewer permits any number of glitzy effects in navigation, animation, and other user interface features shown off in Adobe's Wired for iPad demonstration video. And as pertinent to publishers struggling with hard financial times, it also "promises a new advertising paradigm," Adobe said. Apple has spurned and scorned Adobe's Flash, an all-purpose programming foundation that lets developers reach any number of different computing systems. But, of course, Adobe has other software. In addition to the InDesign digital publishing tool, it has a Photoshop.com Mobile application available for the iPhone, and it's working on new software for the iPad and other tablets.
Source: CNET News (http://cnet.com/)