Mama to Be First Swedish Magazine on the iPad

Popular Science was the first Bonnier magazine released on the digital Mag+ platform when the iPad was launched in the U.S. during Easter weekend.  The app Popular Science+ has been a blockbuster hit, the "king of the hill" according to Apple CEO Steve Jobs. Now Sweden will be getting its first magazine on the Mag+ platform, mama. Bonnier Tidskrifter CEO Ulrika Saxon says at least three magazines are expected to be released on the platform in the coming months.

"We've said from the beginning that we need to be ready once there are tablet computers that can provide a real magazine experience," Saxon says. "That said, 2010 will be a test year in which we'll learn a lot from readers and advertisers. Not until 2011 will there be a broad market."

Bonnier Tidskrifter is working hard to finish before the launch of the iPad in Sweden. 

Fredrik Strömberg, Creative Director for Digital Media at Bonnier Tidskrifter explains why mama will be first out: "It's a magazine that has everything. By everything I mean both advantages and difficulties. It's also geared toward a modern and curious target audience. And when we look at the magazine, it is very well designed and very graphic, which presents a good challenge for us."

The team developing the application is working closely with the "regular" editorial team at mama.

"The same time that we produce 'pages' we are trying to understand how we should do them," says Strömberg. "You could say that we function in some ways as a laboratory, since it's still very early in the development stage. But the idea is that over time, production will be handled by the editorial staff. That's the way to produce the best magazines, both in print and digitally."

Anna Zethraeus, editor in chief for mama, says it's great to be the first to launch.

"We are excited and think that mama works especially well – because of the design and content of the magazine but also because our readers are extremely curious, discriminating and like to be on the cutting edge," she says. "I think Mag+ is right on target for our audience."

Strömberg says that mama on Mag+ will be quickly released once the iPad is launched in Sweden, a date that is still uncertain.