Shaping the Future of the Newspaper Blog - Mobile

Apple device sales hit 120 million

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 14:22:59 -0600

Apple has sold 120 million iPods, iPads and iPhones since 2007, when it launched its iOS operating system, chief executive Steve Jobs announced yesterday, paidContent revealed.

This represents an increase of 20 million in the last three months. Every day, the company is activating an average of 230,000 devices, Mashable reported. These numbers only include activations and not system upgrades, Jobs said.

Steve Jobs presented Apple's results during an event in San Francisco. Photo: paidContent

Washington Post to launch iPad app in 'coming weeks'

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 11:08:02 -0600

The Washington Post plans to launch its iPad app "in the coming weeks," following The New York Times' and Wall Street Journal's efforts on the Apple device, The Upshot reported.

"Mobile continues to be a key distribution platform for our content, utility for our readers, and, a core enabler of our growing digital business," Ken Babby, chief revenue officer and general manager for Washington Post Digital stated in a staff e-mail Wednesday.

Photo: AP/Pablo Martinez Monsivais

AFP goes mobile?

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 10:09:58 -0600

L'Agence France-Presse (AFP) has announced it plans to offer readers direct access to AFP content on digital devices rather than just a "Business to Business" model. AFP is the third largest news agency in the world, tailing the Associated Press and Reuters, and is undoubtedly an influential force in the print industry, providing articles to about 5,000 newspapers in six different languages. Yet Emmanuel Hoog, CEO of AFP, admits that the company is behind the digital trends. Hoog commented to Le Monde "It's absurd that the third largest news provider does not have an application for the iPad, the smartphone, or the internet...How have the AP and Reuters launched mobile apps in French and not AFP?"

Along with much of the print world, AFP has felt the ramifications of a changing industry. Several newspapers have decided to stop using content from AFP, which has affected the news company's primary source of revenue. While Hoog believes the majority of newspapers will continue their contracts with AFP, Hoog asserts his company is in the position to offer content directly over the Internet and mobile devices.

For more on this story, visit our sister publication, editorsweblog.org.

FT launches global campaign targeting corporate subscribers

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 14:24:02 -0600

Following its recent creation of print and digital circulation metrics and its collaboration with U.S media monitoring service provider BurrellesLuce, the Financial Times is launching a global press campaign targeting business subscribers, MarketingWeek.co.uk reported today.

The global press campaign launched today under the tagline, "Some tools aren't a luxury." It is designed to boost corporate subscriptions by showing off the financial daily as an essential business tool companies cannot live without.

Image: Mediaweek.co.uk

Metro Canada websites to integrate Foursquare buttons

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 08:07:09 -0600

Canadian Metro websites, Journalmetro.com and metronews.ca, will be integrating "Add to Foursquare" buttons on their website, Newspaper Innovation reported today.

The newspaper partnered with Foursquare earlier this year and began offering location-based restaurant tips to its followers.

Mobile apps: Are newspapers ready to be innovative?

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 15:17:08 -0600

According to findings from research carried out in May by Digital Media Test Kitchen, "few mobile news apps have pushed the creativity envelope." The report stated that "compared to the innovation that's rampant in the non-news mobile app world, the news apps we reviewed seem behind the curve."

Six newspaper apps were reviewed: USA Today, The New York Times, THE Associated Press, the Guardian, Politico, and the Huffington Post. "Most of the news applications that have been created by single news brands do not do enough to encourage interactivity, customization, or creativity...there is an overall lack of interactivity compared to the news brands' regular Web sites." Regarding creativity, these apps generally stuck to the same pattern of pairing headlines with thumbnails photos. However, these thumbnail photos can usually not be enlarged when clicked on, "a disappointment when the image was too small to discern adequately." As for interactivity, while most of the apps permitted sharing on social networks, only the HuffPost app allowed users to comment.

For more on this story, visit our sister publication, editorsweblog.org.

Fairfax Media sees improved results, prepares to charge for online content

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 15:55:44 -0600

Australian publishing giant Fairfax Media showed much-improved financial performance for the year ending June 30, with annual net profits of AU$282 million after incurring a $380 million loss last year, caused due to declines in advertising revenues. Fairfax will also begin charging for content online and across emerging mobile platforms, to survive in the competitive newspaper industry, Agence France-Presse reported today.

Fairfax's online payment strategy will centre around a two-tier model, wherein users will be required to pay for accessing premium content, while generic content will continue to remain free, Sydney Morning Herald reported. The general news on websites of The Melbourne Age and Sydney Morning Herald will remain free, while "premium niche content" such as that on The Australian Financial Review's website will be charged.

Mobile content audit to be launched in U.S.

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 15:08:47 -0600

The American Audit Bureau of Circulations announced yesterday it will launch an auditing report for mobile content providers, Editor & Publisher revealed.

The service, named m.Audit Report, will provide monthly statistics about number of app downloads, page views, unique visitors, audience access points, type of mobiles used by readers and visits per day to each mobile content site, the Bureau explained on its NewsBulletin Blog.

Photo Source: The New York Times via Johnny Holland Magazine

Hearst opens app 'think tank' to jump start business, education

Wed, 25 Aug 2010 12:23:13 -0600

U.S. Publisher Hearst Magazines is preparing to open an "App Lab" at its Hearst Tower headquarters in Manhattan, paidContent reported. The lab will serve as a "think tank" for those in the advertising and marketing industries, aiming to to kick-start business associations and help experts discuss mobile content ideas with the publishing industry.

The initiative is set to begin in September, with educational sessions on topics including previews of emerging mobile content, applications and platforms, including iPad and other tablets; advertiser and agency roundtables on new ad formats and models; and consumer insight panels, among other programming, according to the press release posted on WebWire.com. In early 2011, the group plans to open up a physical space for showcasing its iPhone, iPad and tablet products exclusively to consumers.

Image: greenquest.co.uk

Nieman Lab launches iPhone app

Wed, 25 Aug 2010 10:56:36 -0600

Without waiting for the argument on whether or not the web is dead to be concluded, Nieman Journalism Lab has launched its Apple app. It works with the iPhone, the iPod touch, and though not at optimum performance, the iPad.

"Every day, there are 16 gazillion news articles about the future of journalism, 27.5 flabillion blog posts, and 294 quinzillion tweets," Joshua Benton wrote on niemanlab.org. "In response, we've built the Nieman Journalism Lab iPhone app," he continued. "You can use it as you like, of course, but the use case I'm imagining for it is when you're standing in line at the grocery store, sitting on a train, or otherwise in a situation where you could squeeze in two minutes to catch up on what's going on."

For more on this story, visit our sister publication, editorsweblog.org.

Futurist: 'Australian newspapers will be irrelevant by 2022'

Tue, 24 Aug 2010 16:26:28 -0600

"Newspapers have 12 years or less left to live in print," according to the digital consultant Ross Dawson, who will speak in the Newspaper Publishers' Association forum in Sydney, Australia this Thursday, mUmBRELLA reported.

According to a NPA release, Dawson said: "By 2022 newspapers as we know them will be irrelevant in Australia. However the leading newspaper publishers of today may have transformed themselves to thrive in what will be a flourishing media industry," The Australian reported.

Photo: Pranav Mistry

ABC: Many Irish newspapers see circulation declines

Sun, 22 Aug 2010 17:58:55 -0600

According to the latest Joint National Readership Survey (JNRS), 86 percent of Irish citizens are amongst the most avid newspaper readers in Europe; however, this did not help increase circulation numbers across the country.

All Irish newspapers, including daily and weekly titles listed in the latest "Island of Ireland Report" from the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC), showed lower circulation figures, The Irish Times reported.

Multitasking helps UK users spend almost half their time using technology

Thu, 19 Aug 2010 16:43:05 -0600

In the United Kingdom, the average person spends 45 percent of their waking hours watching television, listening to the radio, or using mobile phones, computers or other gadgets, media regulator Ofcom has found in its first study to track how long consumers spend with various media. Increasing use of both smartphones and social networking sites are partly responsible for the high number, Telegraph.co.uk reported today.

For example, two years ago 5.7 million people said they accessed the Internet on their mobile phone, while 13.5 million people said so this year, Ofcom's annual Communications Market Report found. The most popular mobile site was Facebook, at 45 percent; Google came in with 8 percent.

Image: Micht Licht, NotionsCapital.com's flickr photostream

KOS Media's newspapers are available on the iPad

Thu, 19 Aug 2010 09:18:39 -0600

KOS Media launched on Friday an iPad application that gives readers access to its 16 free dailies, the Press Gazette informed yesterday.

The company, which owns local titles like the Kent on Sunday and was acquired in June by regional publisher Archant, claimed that its app "is the first for a regional newspaper in Britain," Kent News reported.

Nielsen: Mobile to outpace other media platforms, including the Internet

Wed, 18 Aug 2010 15:57:15 -0600

"Defying classic economic models, the demand for communication (cell phones) leads traditional media growth, signifying a global, disruptive phenomenon," states a new report by Nielsen Wire, with research from The Cambridge Group, Media Post reported.

The Internet will continue to grow, but "at more predictable patterns," the report added.

Photograph: Alamy