iPad is to newspapers what iPod is to Music.
A lot has been written about the iPad and the printing industry. Recently Fred Wilson wrote a post explaining why he doesn’t like the idea of a mobile application but would rather read content on Safari.
His demonstration has some strong point for a power-user but certainly not for the masses. The whole conversation reminds me of the controversy about iPod and music.
Yes, I would basically agree that reading content on a browser is more convenient for me. But reality proves that monetization of digital content via web is complicated.
Apple has created a value added chain of services from publishing to distribution. It’s easy to buy and use.
Newspapers over the world are facing their worse crisis ever. It’s the end of an era. And however we look at it, printing news on paper in 2010 makes no sense.
So will the iPad save the newspaper industry? I think it will. Web content will be limited to headlines, forums, past editions, but premium content will be distributed via apps.
The basic recurring argument saying people won’t pay for content because they can find fresher news freely on the web is just ridiculous. No one buys a newspaper for fresh news. Newspapers are here to bring a deeper, better understanding of the raw information. I don’t think Fred Wilson buys The New York Times to find anything new. He cares about the analysis, the vision brought by journalists and experts.
iPad distribution of newspaper solves many problems:
- production cost [printing]
- distribution
- reachability
- interactivity
- loyalty
- spontaneity
When it comes to market ipad/iphone study I turn to my mother. She discovered emails 2 years ago and never wrote a letter since. Same for the iPhone, which never leaves her sight. iPad has dramatically change the way she reads news and this is just the beginning. I bet newer devices will upgrade the digital experience to unprecedented levels.
Apple brought to the masses what the web failed to provide. SECURITY. My mother feels more secure buying an app online than walking to the newsstand down the road. And that, my friends, is the reason why I believe app stores will succeed.
The ability to pay for your digital content in ONE place, all in one click of a button is magic. Until the web can fix compatibility problem, offline reading, payment options, reminders, push notifications and much more, mobile applications will rule.
Tags: app store, fred wilson, ipad, itunes, mobile apps, new york times, Newspapers
This entry was posted on Monday, May 31st, 2010 at 10:33 pm and is filed under Apple, Content, Geek, Labotec, Newspapers, Technology, ebook, iPhone. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
29 comments to “iPad is to newspapers what iPod is to Music.”
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I 1000% agree with you… And I want to add 1 word in your ipad + list : Accessibility
I really agree with all this also
Joao
Sounds reasonable to me dude, I like it.
Lou
very nice article. thank for sharing
Very good article. Thanks.
It seems to me that you’re conflating two different questions here: whether newspapers will be saved by the iPad and whether app stores will succeed. The latter is already a certainty–there’s no need for prediction there. According to Wikipedia, users have downloaded over 4 billion apps from the Apple App Store.
The former is the question still up for grabs. It’s interesting, for example, that there are few examples of old media companies having financial success with iPhone apps. The iPad has a more favourable form factor, obviously, but I’m unconvinced that the iPad is going to single-handedly convince people that they should pay for news again.
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Newspapers have always been sold at a price less than their printing cost and supported by ads. The “crisis” is that Google and craigslist have crashed the print ad market. How is making readers cover the difference going to work? It’ll be nice (for the legacy print newspapers) if it works, but what evidence is there that it will?
“Pad distribution of newspaper solves many problems:
- production cost [printing]
- distribution
- reachability
- interactivity
- loyalty
- spontaneity”
Yet it does nothing to address to the only problem that actually matters, which is the free online competition. The Genie is out of the bottle, and it’s probably not going back in.
@matt I agree this is a problem. Content is freely on the web, same for weather, stock et al. But if well executed, people do buy apps. Actually if you look at Top Paid apps on iTunes you will notice that a big chunk of those offer very basic service freely distributed on the web. Still it sells.
@Name
That’s where iAds and the 60% app publisher cut comes in.
[...] iPod revolutionised the music industry, and now there is talk that the iPad will revolutionise the newspaper and magazine industry. We’ve had Windows-based tablet computing for almost a decade. If the iPad wasn’t [...]
[...] iPad is to newspapers what iPod is to Music. « Florian's Blog [...]
[...] iPad is to newspapers what iPod is to Music. « Florian's Blog [...]
[...] iPad is to newspapers what iPod is to Music. « Florian's Blog [...]
[...] headlines, forums, past editions, but premium content will be distributed via apps » comme Florian Seroussi dans son billet iPad is to newspapers what iPod is to Music, d’autres comme Gizmodo [...]
[...] iPad is to newspapers what iPod is to Music. « Florian's Blog [...]
I think you’re exactly right Florian. News and magazines will head down this new platform path – and there will be more players in it soon.
A good discussion developing on how iPad changes everything: http://paralleldivergence.com/2010/06/02/ipad-changes-everything
[...] iPad is to newspapers what iPod is to Music. « Florian's Blog [...]
[...] iPad is to newspapers what iPod is to Music. « Florian's Blog [...]
[...] iPad is to newspapers what iPod is to Music. « Florian's Blog [...]
[...] iPad is to newspapers what iPod is to Music. « Florian's Blog [...]
[...] iPad is to newspapers what iPod is to Music. « Florian's Blog [...]
[...] iPad is to newspapers what iPod is to Music. « Florian's Blog [...]
[...] iPad is to newspapers what iPod is to Music. « Florian's Blog [...]
[...] iPad is to newspapers what iPod is to Music. « Florian's Blog [...]
[...] Check it out. [...]
iPad is way too cool to own, i wanna buy one next month.”`;
my girlfriend is going to give me an ipad on my birthday this month.~,~