It should come to no surprise that the print industry is still trying to find itself in the digital age. Many magazines have stopped issuing new physical copies and a number of newspapers have gone bankrupt. More and more readers are abandoning magazines and newspapers in favor of reading the content on the company’s websites. The big problem is that the revenue generated from online advertisements is nowhere near that of the physical copies. Time, Inc. may have found the solution to this problem. Yesterday, the company released details of their digital magazine; a project they have been working on since last summer. With the release, Time also debuted a video demoing a prototype of the digital version of Sports Illustrated. Time teamed up with David Link and Wonderfactory to bring magazines into the digital age. They’re banking on tablets to be the next big thing in the upcoming year.

The prototype is packed with videos, user interactions, live updates, Twitter and Facebook sharing capabilities, and possibly even games? When I first watched the video I was blown away with the amount of content that comes in one issue. Built using Adobe AIR, the magazine takes up the full screen and uses every inch of it. Upon “opening” it, the user watches the photo on the front of their magazine turn into a video. They thumb through their issue by sliding two fingers across the screen, “turning” to the next page. Wonderfactory added several different ways to view the content within the magazine, as well as the ability to see live scores and updates. Clicking on any single page brings up a navigation wheel with several features. One of the most interesting features in the navigation wheel is the integration of Twitter. Not only can readers share their favorite stories or photos, but they can also see what others in the Twittiverse are saying about the article. Time’s prototype of the digital magazine looks to be extremely promising. They’re hoping that the beautiful layout and tons of added features will attract people to start buying magazines again. Personally, they have me sold, I just hope they also develop a version for those of us that won’t have tablets.  Check out Time’s demo video as well as TechCrunch’s hands on preview below: