With delays of the launch of Rupert Murdoch’s iPad newspaper, we thought we would take a look at “Project,” the first iPad magazine exclusive to the iPad. While we don’t consider it to be one of the best ipad apps, it is ground breaking, original and worthy of a closer look.

Richard Branson’s Virgin Digital Publishing Limited launched “Project,” an Ipad-only application on November 30, 2010. It is an interactive magazine in which the inaugural issue features a video about Jeff Bridges’ role in Tron Legacy with moving pictures much like the newspapers in the Harry Potter blockbusters.

This multimedia application that is made only for the Ipad, features pieces about international culture, design, travel, business and entertainment. The first issue has a segment on Jaguar’s super fast hyper car that can go 205 mph, a 3D tour of “Secret Tokyo” and a piece about a plan to Nuke Alaska.

The iPad magazine Project gets plus points for being the first to have a moving cover and videos throughout, but it is still somewhat similar to other iPad magazine apps. The pictures are quite beautiful and there is quality content in the issue, but at $2.99 per download some are wondering if that is too steep a price to pay.

I suspect that it will be too pricey for some, but for those who get their monthly magazine fix solely through iPad apps, they may welcome it with open arms, and hopefully open minds as well. There have been a few bugs in the application which may cause your iPad to momentarily lapse into a coma after watching a video in an article. Hopefully, Virgin has remedied this to give the users a more profound experience rather than the headache of wondering what is causing their iPad to crash. A quick reboot will most likely fix this video playback problem.

Ipad users are also complaining about the way the menus are laid out and that they even need an instruction manual in the magazine to help navigate. Needless to say, it is probably not a good sign for a digital magazine to need a manual just to navigate.

Project has utilized eye popping graphics and animation which make for a nice experience but some say the content is not meaty enough. In this fickle world saturated with ipad apps, readers or buyers need more than just fancy moving covers and videos to reel them in. People want something that is uncomplicated but still entertaining and full of substance at the same time.

Apart from the whole novelty of having a moving cover and interactive videos, some say that it is no different from the other iPad magazine apps released this year such as Fortune, Wired, and other publications. For some people it felt more like a refurbished Wired magazine app with the addition of moving covers, swipe to navigate photo galleries, and contextual menus. “It seems just like another PDF file with just added bells and whistles to keep iPad owners entertained” one iPad enthusiast quipped. Another issue that most people have encountered is the extremely slow downloading time for the entire iPad magazine. The Project iPad magazine will require iOS 4.2 or later so you’d better hurry up and update so that you can also experience what this new magazine application can offer.

See the most popular iPad app of 2010, Flipboard

Article written by Eddie Woods of http://www.appsipad.org where you can Discover the best iPad apps