Rival magazine publishers to team on digital initiative

Print media giants including Time Inc., Condé Nast and Hearst are expected to join forces in a new digital media venture that will create magazines optimized for mobile devices including the iPhone and BlackBerry smartphones. The New York Observer reports that the publishers--whose respective properties include titles like The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Vogue, Time, People, Sports Illustrated, Esquire and O: The Oprah Magazine--will optimize new and unique digital iterations of their flagship publications, eschewing the e-book model in favor of a virtual storefront modeled after Apple's iTunes. Time executive vice president John Squires will reportedly leave his current post to lead the new venture.

A formal announcement is expected in the next few weeks--the Observer adds other publishers may join as well as the effort takes shape. "It's pretty complicated stuff," a source said. "The really, really hard part is that you've got so many different kinds of devices running on different operating systems. And how do you handle that? The consortium provides one point of contact for the consumer. When you come to the main store, you can get the content any way you want."

For more on the digital media venture:
- read this New York Observer article [1]