Philly Mag Cover Tells Off Baby Boomers

On my way to a conference to speak about our mobile apps, a magazine cover caught my eye at the newsstand in the Philadelphia train station. Well, it was more like a whack in the face seeing a photo of an iPad on the front of the March 2011 issue of Philadelphia Magazine with this message overprinted on the screen:

Dear Baby Boomers, JUST DIE ALREADY. (We'll take Philly from here. Thanks.) xoxo, Generation X

As a proud iPad-owning baby boomer, I was a bit annoyed by the cheap trick, but not surprised. Consumer magazines in the U.S. are seeing tough times these days. Though the story package offers point and counterpoint, it has predictably touched off some strong reactions and was called out by some of my colleagues.

The irony here is that it was Steve Jobs, an iconic baby boomer, who brought Gen X their cherished iPads. And it's the iPad that may ultimately cause most of Gen X to stop buying paper magazines.