By David Gewirtz
I've been looking forward to writing this editorial for a few weeks now. As you might imagine, getting ready to launch a new publication requires paying attention to a myriad of details, making a whole lot of phone calls, sitting in a bunch of meetings, and generally being a manager and leader.
But the time I take writing an editorial is quiet time, time that I'm able to sit and think, regain some perspective, and talk directly to our readers. As such, the time I spend writing is precious, quality time.
As you may have noticed, we've just launched a new sister magazine to PalmPower, called PalmPower Magazine Enterprise Edition. While PalmPower's Enterprise Edition shares the PalmPower trademark, it's a completely separate publication. It has its own editorial mission, its own table of contents, back issues, and news focus. It even has its own (rather long) URL: http://www.palmpowerenterprise.com. You may have also noticed that we've substantially improved the look of PalmPower itself. Pretty cool, huh?
PalmPower's Enterprise Edition opens up new opportunities for us while, at the same time, it harkens back to our beginnings in the magazine publishing business. You see, we're thrilled that PalmPower's Enterprise Edition has been made possible by an investment from Palm, Inc. This marks the first time that ZATZ is producing a publication with an outside investor, and that's something new and exciting to us.
But it's also an interesting flashback for co-founder Denise Amrich and myself. For years before we founded ZATZ, we partnered with both Lotus and Ziff-Davis (back when it was a technical publishing powerhouse, before its properties got scattered to the winds). It's really great to be working closely with smart partners again.
Smart and courageous.
You see, while Palm has made it possible for us to bring you this new publication they've allowed us to be completely independent in our editorial. That means if, in the course of presenting you all the details, we have to call Palm on something, we will. It would've been quite easy for the Palm folks to have tried to make editorial accountability a part of their agreement, but they didn't. From the very beginning of our discussions, they were confident enough in their products and their people (and, by extension, our editors) to allow us complete editorial freedom.
And, like PalmPower before it, that editorial freedom makes us strong. We have no affiliations. We don't sell any products. We don't do any consulting. If we like a product, it's because we like it, not because we're trying to get you to order it from us. We have no hidden agenda and no profit motive from our content. Our only goal is to bring you exceptional content and create more and more exceptional magazines.
