Ushering In a New Era

TIME has a long history with Steve Jobs. We first put him on the cover in 1982 for a story about what we called “America’s risk takers” — and he has been taking risks ever since. Over the years, Jobs has given us behind-the-scenes access to Apple’s product development, as when we did a feature about the launch of the iPhone three years ago. This time, in anticipation of the iPad’s launch, we sent out the English writer, actor and technology geek Stephen Fry to spend some time with Jobs and his team. Fry is an unabashed fan of Apple, but we wanted him to get a sense of both how the Apple team works and Jobs’ unique role in that process. Fry spoke to Jobs about his dreams for the iPad — and got some time to play with it. Lev Grossman, our technology writer, looked at the iPad as part of a historical continuum, noting that it’s only the latest version in the long quest for a tablet computer.

(See pictures of Steve Jobs’ extraordinary career.)

I was something of a skeptic about the iPad myself until I held one in my hands when Jobs came here to do a presentation at Time Inc. We’ve chosen to put Jobs on the cover — with a powerful new photograph of him by Marco Grob — and tell the story of the making of the iPad in part because we believe that the device and others like it, from companies such as Hewlett-Packard and Sony, will change people’s lives by ushering in a new era of portable computing.

At the same time, we did everything we could to make TIME available on the iPad. In the media these days, we have to participate in things that we also cover. I am not one of those who see the tablet as the solution for all the media’s problems, but I do see it as a dynamic new way that we can present great reporting and writing to our readers. For the first time since the magazine’s birth in 1923, we will soon be delivering the entire contents of TIME to paying customers in a radically different way: as a self-contained application that you can download to the iPad.

(See the unveiling of Apple’s iPad.)

This journey started with TIME editor-at-large Josh Quittner’s piece in February 2009, which argued that the magazine industry ought to start thinking about how “to provide a new reading experience once the iPod of [e-readers] finally arrives.” But that was notional. Once we found out about the launch of the iPad, it became a dash to get ready. We did not get the tech specs from Apple until a little over a month ago, and then scores of people started working together inside the magazine, TIME.com Time Inc. and beyond.

(See the top 10 Apple moments.)

Agatha Cutrone spearheaded a group that oversaw the tech development at Time Inc., while at the magazine, the team was led by Quittner, our indefatigable design director D.W. Pine and our photo director Kira Pollack. Executive producer Cathy Sharick mobilized the staff at TIME.com We also worked closely with the Wonderfactory, a New York City digital-design shop, and learned much from the terrific work SPORTS ILLUSTRATED head Terry McDonnell did with the company on the SI tablet prototype. Finally, WoodWing, the Dutch company that makes our publishing software, created a system that allows our designers to easily embed photo galleries and video on pages that will be reformatted into an app every week.

We’re proud of TIME on the iPad and of the special features that will be in it, such as extra pictures, videos and a NewsFeed featuring the latest stories from TIME.com We were a little handicapped in part because, unlike some other news organizations, we were not working with an actual iPad. It is the beginning, not the end, of the process, and we hope to evolve and change every week. We’d like to do so with your help. So let us know what you think at feedback@timemagazine.com

Richard Stengel, MANAGING EDITOR

See TIME’s computer covers.

See more about the iPad at Techland.com.