Next Issue has been in the unlimited magazine subscription game since 2012 when they first unveiled an Android app. Soon thereafter the company launched on the iPad and Windows devices. Last week Next Issue relaunched with a new look, new features and even a new name — it’s called “Texture.
Although the app has the same concept, and is priced the same as before $9.99 per month for all of the monthly magazines or $14.99 for all of the weeklies. However it now places a bigger emphasis on individual articles, as opposed to just whole issues. For starters, there’s a “New & Noteworthy” section, curated by human editors behind the scenes. That same team also puts together “Curated Collections,” groups of stories around a theme — say, the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. On the other hand, you can be a curator too, and save stories to your own collections.
“What we’re seeing is a natural evolution of the product, from a simple digital newsstand to a constantly-growing database of the best magazine stories in the world,” says Steve Maich, the head of Rogers Publishing, which is a part-owner of Next Issue. “It’s about the ability to discover content and indulge in the subjects that you’re most passionate about.”
Next Issue began as “digital translation of the print business that we know and love,” says Maich. Adding great customization, search and curation capability positions Texture to reach beyond traditional magazine readers to a new audience of “people who almost exclusively consume their content on the screen, rather than off the page,” says Maich. “The continued evolution of the service is about satisfying the expectations of that audience. Continued growth is going to be about leveraging the best of the digital world and the best of the print world.” The platform’s new name and look “was consistent with where we see the product evolving to, rather than growing out of the history of the magazine business,” says Maich.
Texture has not had much of an impact in the digital magazine sector and is entirely reliant on outside funding. Their market share pales in comparison to Amazon, Apple, Kobo, Google Play Magazines, Magster, and PressReader.
You can get a look at Texture’s full catalog here to see if they fit your needs.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
