There’s a bit of tit-for-tat going on, the WSJ reports, saying that “In some cases, device makers are talking about advertising their devices in certain publications, in exchange for publishers agreeing to build an application for them.” In other words, tablet makers need content for their devices, so they’re offering to indirectly pay publishers to build apps. And publishers need money as ad revenues have shrunk, which is why they’re looking to tablets for salvation in the first place.
According to the WSJ, the NYT app will be pre-loaded on “certain” Galaxy Tabs—maybe on one carrier versus another, since it’s coming to all four major carriers in the US—and it’ll be free through the end of the year, just like the full-blown app when it hits the iPad by the end of this year. Currently, the NYT Editor’s Choice app for iPad only offers a limited selection of articles, because of its relatively short development time. The full app, which we hear is going to be a lot like the current Times Reader on the desktop when it launches in a couple months, will start costing money next year. (If it launches soon on the iPad, it’ll probably work like the WSJ’s current subscription-required iPad app, not like the mag subscriptions Apple is negotiating over right now.)
There’s still a long way to go for publishers and tablets when it comes to replacing good print. Publishers need to wring more money out of digital content& – ;via ads, subscriptions, whatever – but they also need to deliver more compelling experiences at the same time. It’s somewhat crazy to me that, as much as I love magazines, my favourite reading experience on the iPad is still Instapaper, which is basically straightforward text. [WSJ]
Steve
Sunday, October 10, 2010 at 4:16 PMPaid digital subscriptions to tablets and smartphones is the only route to save journalism. People often spruik internet advertising as a viable source of revenue, but it nowhere near meets the costs of running a newspaper to send reporters around the world, with camera, expenses etc.
The internet has become a disgusting cesspool of aggregators and ‘blogger journalists’ who reference each other so much it’s hard to pinpoint where a story began. And it’s been free for so long, I don’t think charging for it on your PC is going to work.
Paid subscriptions to iPads etc will hopefully save first degree journalism in the 21st century.
Tablazines
Saturday, October 16, 2010 at 11:57 PMAnd what has journalism become, Steve. When I was a kid growing up we were taught that news was supposed to unbiased. That reporters should never interject their own beliefs in a story. Now we have whole stations with out and out political bias’ and the drones that follow these stations based on “what they want to believe”. Whether on tablet, cellphone or computer I will never fork over money for this kind of “journalism”. Don’t tell me what I want to here… Tell me the truth!