We’ve all tried to use them. We can’t help but become frustrated as we aimlessly watch the clock, just waiting for the page to flip. The lack of readability makes me feel about 90 years old. Forced to squint at the computer screen, my eyes almost cross. I find myself constantly hitting the zoom button, hoping the next font increase will be legible.

Yes, I’m talking about those annoying flipbooks—the ones where you upload a PDF and think you now have a digital version of your publication. It’s an outdated technology that publishing companies have kept alive somehow, hoping that this platform—just because it’s digital—will breathe life back into the industry. Although flipbooks are a step in the right direction (print publishing definitely needs digital counterparts), they often create more problems and annoyances than quality results. Luckily, Adobe has come to the rescue in the form of a magazine reader—a superior platform driven by the powerful Adobe AIR.

AIR (Adobe Integrated Runtime) allows developers to use (and combine) such technologies as HTML, Ajax, Adobe Flash, and Flex to build Internet applications. These applications can be developed to run when connected to the Internet, and they can also use a local database if users are offline.

How will this technology bring an end to the flipbook era? For starters, imagine a world where page load times are unnoticeable. The combination of Ajax, Flex, and Flash allows a fluid motion as the reader glides across the application, culminating in the ultimate user experience. AIR allows magazines to be represented as they were meant to be, even though they’re digital. The text rendering is extremely crisp because it’s no longer reliant on an application to render a PDF. Without pixelation the images and color appear to jump out of the screen.

The most successful reader/platform for AIR so far is the New York Times reader. It’s a brilliant transition of print to digital that includes video and other media to allow more viewer engagement. It successfully combines the strengths of print with the benefits of digital.

Also, on the horizon is the product of a partnership between Conde Nast and Adobe. The duo is developing a Wired magazine reader, which is intended to be used on the (mythical?) Apple tablet. (Of course, because it’s built on AIR, it still can run on any platform even if the tablet never comes to fruition.)

If you’re still unconvinced that Adobe AIR is the next big thing, take into consideration that the technology was installed more than 200 million times in its first 16 months of availability. It’s also allowing smaller companies to break out of their Web-only presences to provide content straight to the desktop. Because it’s developed with existing technologies, the learning curve for developers is small, so expect to see it replacing flipbooks more and more. Now that the torch is being passed, is your company ready to enter the next era?

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