Charging for content or access?

There’s been a lot of debate on how publishers can get users to pay for content, but it’s starting to look like this might be the wrong question to ask at all! There’s ample reason to see how it’s not so much the quality or quantity of content that should have a price tag looming over it, but more the access to content itself. We now have ‘access points’  where whole databases of content are generated that not only are convenient, but get better and faster all the time. A prime example is Netflix which James McQuivey blogged about, as it’s a one-stop digital archive that hosts tons of content of different media formats in a sole access site. Isn’t that the main death knell threat for newspapers, DVDs, magazines etc? It’s understandable then that access to content is what programmers and publishers alike should be looking at more closely. Read more →

Review: Digital Post ipad App

NOTE: This post is part of our “The 10 Best iPad Applications for News” series. Do check back and view the latest reviews.

Digital Post

The Digital Post straddles authentic, newspaper design and modern innovation. Its ability to aggregate multiple sources attracts the ‘nomadic’ reader concerned with varied and mass content at speed over brand loyalty. It exploits the inability of print to provide user-chosen content and lets the reader pioneer the search from neatly divided categories. This is the major superiority of digital, malleable content over newspapers. Yet, respect for the authentic, reputable design of newspaper print shines through and Digital Post is trying to pretend it is a paper as much as possible, even the point of a tedious little virtual coffee stain. It is definitely an app. for the pad user that cannot quite let go of the old design; a memory which the ad can sustain with its overgenerous screen size.

Read more →

Review: The Times / Sunday Times iPad App

NOTE: This post is part of our “The 10 Best iPad Applications for News” series. Do check back and view the latest reviews.

News International – the Sunday Times and The Times

The News International Group owned by Rupert Murdoch unleashed their new paywall-protected websites for the Sunday Times and The Times to replace the one-stop Timesonline.co.uk domain, and also announced they would be among the latest titles to release iPad app versions of their newspapers. The Times app saw 5,000 downloads in its first three days. While News International has defended its decision of paid-for digital versions of their papers, critics have argued that advertising revenue will be enough to sustain quality journalism; for its iPad version, the company is limiting its inventory to six advertisers. The Times edition will also feature interactive graphics, picture galleries and video usage. Basic features include editorial content from the day’s newspaper, and, for those already subscribing to either or both of those papers, is free access with no payment. For less enthusiastic readers who haven’t pledged their allegiance by paying for either paper’s online content, it remains to be seen whether they’d be any more willing to pay the monthly subscription fee for the iPad version.

Read more →

Review: The Financial Times iPad App

NOTE: This post is part of our “The 10 Best iPad Applications for News” series. Do check back and view the latest reviews.

The Financial Times

The Financial Times seem to be  leading the pack in terms of  downloads so far, with  MobileMarketing reporting that the  newspaper group’s iPad app has  been downloaded 130,000 times in  its first two weeks. Their marketing  strategy is interesting: thanks to  sponsorship from Swiss  watchmaker Hublot , the app is free  until the end of July, by which time,  FT purports, users would have had  enough of a sample dabble around  to realize the investment in paying  for unlimited, instant access on the  tablet, (current subscribers will  continue to get content). There is a lovely familiarity in using the app, with the recognisable FT branding and style, page design and layout. The FT app also features pop-up charts for its poweful market data, as well as the ability to download whole issues for reading offline . As the FT online FAQ page cites, additional pluses, (especially differentiating it from its iPhone offerings), include more high quality images, a wider range of micromaps and access to incredible video screenings of its award-winning video footages.

Read more →

What do you really want from the news?

Every day there appears a new update, a new redesign from newspapers and other content producers as they strive to build a “strong and stable” (see the political reference?) strategy for the new publishing paradigm they all face. However what I think has been overlooked is actually nobody has really asked the reader, what do they want?

Read more →