The unfortunate name choice aside – are there no women working in the Apple marketing department? – print media people have been debating the possibility the iPad could be the salvation for the struggling newspaper and magazine industries.
Most folks scoff at the notion that they should ever be made to pay for the news they read online; it’ll never happen, they say – unless you’re talking about niche products such as the Financial Times or the Wall Street Journal.
But is it possible that the iPad could enhance the digital news-reading experience to such a degree that it just might give people a good reason to pay for the pleasure?
Perhaps it’s akin to my rationale for still buying CDs in the age of digital music: I’ll shell out the dough for them if they offer value-added features – quality liner notes, attractive packaging, photos, DVD extras, etc.
The iPad seems to represent the best of both worlds, combining the visually appealing design/layout of a printed news product with the interactive features of the internet, such as video, web browser/links and e-mail (On the flip side, it doesn’t support Flash and doesn’t have a camera.)
This Sports Illustrated demo offers a sense of how awesome the tablet experience could be:
For someone like me, who finds it difficult to read long-form articles online, having them laid out like they are in an actual physical newspaper/magazine might make things more enjoyable and tolerable.
(Then again, one of the reasons it’s hard for me to get through lengthy articles on the web is because of all the distractions that beckon me every second… e-mail, Twitter, Facebook, and the list goes on.)
The iPad certainly looks cool, but is it going to be the solution to getting people to pay for online news?
It counts for something that Apple CEO Steve Jobs was joined at the iPad launch by the New York Times’ digital operations chief, who unveiled a NYT app for the new gadget. (And it’s worth noting that a week earlier the Times announced it would be introducing a pay wall in 2011.)
Apple helped rescue record companies from certain demise in the face of digital file sharing when it introduced the iTunes micro-payment system that has proven to be wildly successful.
If newspapers and magazines are going to survive in the brave new digital media world, they’ll need to figure out how to get people to pay.
It may seem an impossible feat, but if any two companies are going to find a way to make such a business model work, I’d put my money on the New York Times and Apple.
THE GUARDIAN — one of the more highly regarded news organizations in the world — has produced this pretty cool “advert” that imagines how the paper and website would have covered the story of the Three Little Pigs. The video … Continue reading → […]
Merry Christmas to all — if you celebrate it, or even if you don’t; and even if you don’t, you’re still going to love Simon’s cat in ‘Santa Claws’ (unless you don’t like cats, in which case, forget you). Happy … Continue reading → […]
NOVEMBER HAS BECOME synonymous with “Movember,” the annual event during which guys around the world grow moustaches to raise money and awareness for men’s health, prostate cancer specifically. It’s a brilliant publicity campaign that has gathered a huge amount of … Continue reading → […]
HOW’S THAT FOR heeding a warning? Saw this head-shaking piece of work on the way into a Toronto-area hospital yesterday. If the genius driver responsible for the damage could read the sign, apparently he didn’t get the message. ryan@roadtostarrdom.com […]
CANADIAN NOVELIST Russell Smith had a thought-provoking column in the Globe and Mail a few weeks back examining the growing tendency these days for young creative people, writers in particular, to work for free. The spur for the discussion was … Continue reading → […]
Perhaps. But check out The New Yorker’s fabulous cover tribute to Jobs: Says it all really, doesn’t it? ryan@roadtostarrdom.com […]
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