I love The New Yorker magazine. I don’t know…I think it’s due to my true love for New York City. Moreover, I like the style, the font, the design and the articles they write.

Today two things that I love happen to join: The New Yorker interviewed Trent Reznor. Apparently a long interview, with some insights about the future of Nine Inch Nails, and about his life.

WOW.

Since I live in Berlin (Germany) and I don’t want to spend 15 euros for a copy of the magazine, I decided to buy the digital version of the issue for the iPad.

I don’t have a new iPad: in fact it’s the first version, with iOS 5.1.1.

Here’s my – bad – experience with the iPad New Yorker app.

I download the app, and I was extremely surprise seeing 4 negative reviews for this app.

But, I didn’t worry that much, because sometimes I saw some bad reviews for apps that actually work great.

But because of these bad reviews, I was surprised to see that the last update from Condé Nast was done on september 28th, 2012. If something is not working like the customers are saying, well….maybe it’s time to due a major update, but even the last update is described as: “Provides bug fixes and content enhancements”.

Meaning all and nothing at the same time!

But The New Yorker is so cool! I’m sure there is an error. Let’s download the app.

When the app is downloaded, it goes directly in the Newsstand folder on my iPad (something that I really hate, because the Newsstand design is really bad). Really Apple? We both know you can do better!

Anyway. Here it is. My New Yorker iPad app. Come on, hurry up, ’cause I have to read Trent Reznor’s interview.

So I opened the app, and the nice “The New Yorker” logo is appearing! After few seconds, it disappears and a black screen with the Condé Nast logo is appearing, BUT NOTHING HAPPENS. WTF????

I mean, yeah, cool logo if you want to say, but I want my freaking magazine issue!!!!

At the bottom of the screen there are few options, and the two I tried were: Library and Store.

When I clicked on Library, a pop up asked me: “do you want to restore your previous purchases?”. Wait, WHAT? why are you asking me that? I never bought the magazine through the iPad app, so what’s the point of asking me that?

But I decided to click on “Yes” to see what it was going to happen. Well, Condé Nast decided to put in my library one sample of an issue, and one free issue. Cool? NOPE! It’s not what I want, and this kind of gift is something you can make later to the reader, ONCE SHE WAS ABLE TO FIND WHAT SHE WANTS.

So I clicked on “Store”, the black page with the Condé Nast logo. After few eternal seconds, that page showed me the issue that I want to buy: EUREKA! NOPE! BECAUSE THE APP CRASHED!

I tried to repeat the process several times, but the app is crashing over and over, and I decided to delete it.

Now, New Yorker: WHAT THE FUCK?

How do you think your customers feel about your awful iPad app? How do you think to break the barrier between paper and digital if you are doing such a shitty service to your users? Don’t you see the bad reviews for your app? I was able to see them, and you don’t? 

Please, fix the iPad app as soon as possible, because reading magazine issues on digital devices is going to become the future, and anyway you decided to create different apps for different devices, so you have to be sure they’re working properly.

Digital and standard paper have to be together, from now on. So, as you deliver great experience with the classic format magazine, you NEED and you HAVE TO deliver the same great thing with the digital version.

Please don’t let me down on this: don’t tell me you are doing this because you are afraid of the digital future of things, because I cannot believe it.

You need to think digital, you need to have a strategy on solving things, because right now what you have to do is to listen to your customers. So, here is one thing you have to do in 2013: create an amazing iPad app to show the world who is rocking the digital revolution.