TMO Reports - MacAddict Rep Discusses New Magazine

by , 2:50 PM EDT, October 9th, 2006

Steve Aaron, publishing director at MacAddict parent company Future US, on Monday spoke with The Mac Observer about the magazine's change to Mac|Life next spring. Last Friday, TMO reported the news after seeing a Craigslist job listing that sought an editor-in-chief for the rechristened publication. That information quickly circulated among the Web-based Mac media.

"We didn't realize it would come out that way," Mr. Aaron said of the Craigslist posting. "We simply wanted to get a sense of the editorial talent that was available, but I guess this is now part of the organic process of the redesign."

He wouldn't get into the specific ideas planned for the magazine's relaunch, other than to say that he sees a "huge window of opportunity. Mac users aren't the same today as they were ten years ago. MacAddict served its audience well for the past decade, and now we want to decide the next ten years of the magazine." He added that more information about the new magazine will become available at the January Macworld Conference & Expo trade show in San Francisco.

Mr. Aaron noted that current editor Rik Myslewski, associate publisher Stacy Levy, and others were part of the decision to become Mac|Life. Mr. Myslewski, as he said in a MacAddict forum posting, won't be leaving the magazine, despite the search for a new editor-in-chief, but he wouldn't elaborate on his new role, nor would Mr. Aaron, other than to say that "he will still have a voice at the magazine." The current staff will remain onboard, and the headcount will likely grow by one or two.

The publishing director also expects the new magazine to take advantage of a variety of digital media, including an expanded online presence that offers blogs and podcasts. Mr. Aaron pointed to Guitar World's use of DVDs as a medium they might also use. He also said that they plan to continue to focus on power users "and where they're going." When asked about similarities between the new magazine's content and what Macworld already covers, he responded: "We have the opportunity to leapfrog Macworld."

The announcement of the new name brought ire from Shawn King, who hosts the Your Mac Life radio show and who told TMO that he is consulting an attorney regarding the names' similarity. Mr. Aaron declined to speak on the record about the matter.