Magazine publishers have been eyeing the iPhone and mobile platforms generally as a salve for what ails their online products. Unlike the Web, people actually pay for content on phones, and many in the industry are hopeful that emerging media will restore the content eco-system to more palatable subscription + ad support hybrid models. With the iPhone offering both a richer palette and more versatile distribution/revenue model than most other devices, it becomes the test bed for a next generation of mobilized magazine brands.

People magazine’s iPhone app appears to be a major hit, as it remains high on the App Store’s bestseller list weeks after its release. In many ways, People was tailor-made for mobile. It has a persistent and rich feed of Web stories about celebrities and images that fit the mobile model of drive-by content snaking. Of course, an image-driven magazine also conforms to the iPhone's portrait orientation. Arguably, an iPhone or G1 Android smart phone is a better form for magazines than the Web display. The editors can superimpose rich captions on the photo galleries so they can convey considerable visual and textual information on a single screen. People’s celebrity news organization keeps the news and image pipelines well refreshed.

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