“It’s not a magazine and it’s not a digital version of a magazine,” said Chuck Townsend, chief executive of Conde Nast. “It’s a whole new way to engage with consumers.”

 

As a result, new application will also allow users to share articles to social sites like Facebook and Twitter, tag articles as favorites and see which articles are more popular among their friends. In addition, Gourmet Live will incorporate a real-time game engine, not unlike the model popularized by the mobile application Foursquare, that will unlock new content, both free and for a small fee, for readers as they navigate through the application. Eventually, the application could expand to include features like user reviews of restaurants and recommendations.

The above video for Gourmet Live is the very first thing I’ve seen that has made me think, “Hmmmmm. Maybe I should consider getting an iPad.” If magazines are going to be available in this medium, it may just be worth it. Up until now, I haven’t seen anything that between my iPhone and my iMac, the iPad could do that they couldn’t. This changes things.