A better experience

BIKES are better than cars, movies are better than TV, the iPad is better than a magazine.

Maybe not always true, but generally so, although the last one is going to be contentious, but I honestly believe it: the tablet computer, of which the iPad is the first and so far only real platform to display a great digital magazine.

Cycle Torque is advanced in its development of an iPad version of the magazine, but it won’t be just pages of the magazine redesigned for a 10-inch screen: rather, it’s an immersive experience of photos, audio, video, and, of course, the printed word.

Cycle Torque’s tablet/iPad edition will offer so much more than a printed version ever could, at least without putting a DVD on the cover of each and every edition.
We plan to put you in the saddle of test bikes with on-board footage, let you listen to the latest models with recordings of their sounds, show you more of each bike with galleries of images, from close-up detail images to our great action photography.

Soon you’ll find Cycle Torque in the Newsstand section of your iPad, and you’ll be able to subscribe free, of course. Once you’ve subscribed each new issue will download automatically when it becomes available.
It will feature all the articles in the print edition (which will continue to be produced, see below) enhanced with extra content – the audio and video we’ve mentioned but also lots more photographs, extended articles and more.

You’ll be able to integrate with social media like Facebook and Twitter as well as email directly to friends and advertisers. It’ll be great for advertisers, too. As a reader you’ll be able to click on a helmet ad and see a gallery of all the different colours and graphics, in full screen, for example. You’ll be able to go straight to the advertiser’s website for more information and even share the ad with a friend.

At least initially you’ll need an iPad to experience this though. While we realise that while the iPad has been phenomenally successful, not everyone has or wants one, which is why the print edition will continue to be available in you local bike shop every month.

I really think the people who try out the iPad edition will prefer it, because it offers so much more than the printed page, doesn’t consume any trees and requires no commuting to get it!As for inevitable “What about Android?” question, well, when there’s lots of Android tablets out there we will develop for that platform too, but until then…And if you’re still reading and would like to become a beta tester for the iPad edition, please drop me an email to publisher@cycletorque.com.au.

– Nigel Paterson