by: Staci D. Kramer | paidContent.org

The distinctive three-dimensional globe is giving way to a new three-edition iPad app strategy for ABC News. The new version, going live as this is published, relies not on ideas about what iPad users might want — as was the case when it first launched in July 2010 — but on nearly two years of usage.

“The globe served a wonderful purpose for us for a long time but because we were so early in we have a lot of knowledge,” Joe Ruffolo, SVP, ABC News Digital, told me as they were preparing to launch.