Are iPad-Exclusive Publications the End of Print Media?
Adam Schwartzman, Intern ·
Dec 3, 2010 at 1:09pm
Virgin Tycoon Richard Branson has recently announced the launch of the “first truly digital” magazine, called “Project.” According to Branson, the publication will come out with monthly issues that will be released exclusively on the Apple iPad.
Further digital publication is expected to come with “The Daily,” an anticipated newspaper for the iPad from Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation.
Is this the future of the news? Perhaps the iPad is ringing in the death knell of print media. On the other hand, what’s to say these publications will even succeed, what with the prodigious amount of information already available online for free. Thoughts?
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Comments :
Aug '10
Re: Are iPad-Exclusive Publications the End of Print Media?
a) iPad-exclusive content? Nobody who ignores the other tablet/eReaders that will rapidly be entering the market will so all that well. No Kindle? No Android? Bah, sez I.
b) Tablet/eReader exclusive content? I still say no.
People aren't going to be carrying their tablet/eReader with them at all times, and there will be times they don't have their device on them but they'll still want something to read.
When I sit down at McDonalds (or wherever) I'm always hopeful to find a table where someone has left behind their newspaper.
One of the great things about paper is that it's disposable. I can pick up a magazine or newspaper when I'm travelling and not worry about breaking it or losing it, since it was so inexpensive. If I buy content for a tablet then I still have to worry about losing or breaking the tablet, even if the content is disposable.
c) Electronic-exclusive content? Probably, yes. This includes content you buy via your tablet or eReader AS WELL AS content you get through your computer. That's content you can print out and shove in your pocket.
Oct '10
Re: Are iPad-Exclusive Publications the End of Print Media?
This subject was discussed exeptionally well in the most recent Ricochet podcast.
My thought is that print media consisting of real-time "news" will probably continue to become increasingly digitized, whereas more "in-depth reporting", as embodied by the NYT and the WSJ, will continue to survive and maybe even thrive. Most of us in the "analog" generations still enjoy interacting with traditional print media, and continue to pass this tradition along to subsequent "digital" generations. How long this will continue is anyone's guess.
Besides which, what will we use to line the bird cage, stock the outhouse, and light the fires: New York Times anyone?
Edited on Dec 3, 2010 at 1:34pmAug '10
Re: Are iPad-Exclusive Publications the End of Print Media?
I'd be willing to wager that demographers like David K. Foot could give you a pretty accurate estimate, based on the expected life expectancy of the Baby Boom generation.
Oct '10
Re: Are iPad-Exclusive Publications the End of Print Media?
Misthiocracy
I'd be willing to wager that demographers like David K. Foot could give you a pretty accurate estimate, based on the expected life expectancy of the Baby Boom generation. · Dec 3 at 1:34pm
Who knows? Alvin Toffler certainly didn't get it right!
Nov '10
Re: Are iPad-Exclusive Publications the End of Print Media?
eBooks are up in 2010, accellerating a trend. But paper books are up 3.8% YTD through October. Are they complimentary?
Anecdotally, I have an iPad and enjoy reading articles on it, but prefer a paper book. A tablet/eReader may cannibalize newspapers and magazines, but doubts remain about the death of printed books.
Aug '10
Re: Are iPad-Exclusive Publications the End of Print Media?
Funny, I'm sort of the opposite. I like reading books on my little $100 Chinese Android tablet, and I like using it for reference books (like Dungeons & Dragons rulebooks, etc), but when it comes to articles I like the "tossability" of paper. Even though I rarely buy magazines, I'll often print articles out for later reading.
I also like saving articles on my desktop computer as PDF files, for easy filing.
I think eventually the battle won't necessarily be tablet vs. paper. In the long run, I think paper will be largely supplanted. I think a large part of the battle will instead be tablet vs desktop/laptop.
The tech gurus say the tablet will replace the desktop/laptop. I am not quite so sure of that.
Aug '10
Re: Are iPad-Exclusive Publications the End of Print Media?
I thought I was an early adopter, having lost more palms, sony ebooks than kindles at one point, with the iPhone being the only siren call back to upgrade. I need to know the multiple of a cost base of $ 3.47 .
With the podcast ringing in my ears about how stoked everyone is on reading iPad vs. other screens and postures, a memorable thing is the folded up copy of the JFK paper, but with a stroke everything will be available and the loop will close as we struggle to read a Gutenberg bible without a babelfish.
Can we use this to show the greens how many trees will be saved, or (can) we fabricate something from garbage and waste for them to read . Now if we can only redirect the tools we use. Apple and Google appear to be recincarnations of Helen Gahagan Douglas , their newsbots and searches look like the inside of a Barnes and Noble in ...well, anywhere. The clerks, pursedlippedly smirking at your Laura Ingraham book. I wonder if that's because they're surprised we found it ?
Whoever coined NRODT wins.
Aug '10
Re: Are iPad-Exclusive Publications the End of Print Media?
As Rob Long pointed out in the Identity Man comments, you can't get an author to autograph an ebook.
Sep '10
Re: Are iPad-Exclusive Publications the End of Print Media?
iPad/iBooks is THE way to read books. Forget who a character is? iPad has a very nice inline search. A word new to you? Built in dictionary. A concept you need to know more about? Built in Google. And searchable notes. But there is something comforting about having a physical book on the shelf. I'll be trying the Daily to see if it has features similar to iBooks.
Edited on Dec 3, 2010 at 3:25pmOh yeah, auto sync with iBooks on your iPhone.
May '10
Re: Are iPad-Exclusive Publications the End of Print Media?
Content is king. Is there anything you would go out and purchase an iPad for if that were the only way to receive it?
Jul '10
Re: Are iPad-Exclusive Publications the End of Print Media?
I'm right there with you. I still read printed books at home for the most part, but I no longer have to carry my periodicals with me to work to read during lunch. NR, Commentary, Claremont Review, National Affairs, etc. are all available as PDFs. (Though, strangely, City Journal still is not.) I load them all into GoodReader on my iPad and take them with me wherever I go. I don't have to decide which one to take, then wish I had brought the other; I don't have to lug them all around so as to keep my options open.
Now, if only these publications had versions formatted specificallly for the iPad, I could cheerfully forget that the print versions ever existed. As it is now, scrolling around on a page meant to be seen all at once is a bit cumbersome. Still, I haven't read the print versions of any of these magazines for months.
Jul '10
Re: Are iPad-Exclusive Publications the End of Print Media?
One other thing about the iPad: I don't have to remember to carry my reading glasses. I can make the print as large as I need it to be. That's of immeasurable value to those of us with "over-40-ish" eyes.
Aug '10
Re: Are iPad-Exclusive Publications the End of Print Media?
iPad is the lazyboy recliner of the info age same age group same disposable income same employment status is jobs aiming any higher than his own demographic ? sorry but it's not ready yet
Jul '10
Re: Are iPad-Exclusive Publications the End of Print Media?
Not ready? For what, exactly? Sales of the iPad have wildly exceeded expectations. The iPad is about to overtake the Kindle in a growing eReader market. Many companies (my own included) are beginning to roll it out to sales teams to use in place of PCs. In fact, Gartner already predicts that “Over the longer term, media tablets are expected to displace around 10 percent of PC units by 2014.” It's just become available in 11 more countries in Asia and Europe. The development and distribution of apps has seen explosive growth, and Apple and newspaper and magazine publishers are working on an agreement to distribute subscription content via the iPad.
I could go on, but my point is that Steve Jobs is hardly confined to selling the iPad to people just like himself. It's certainly not the right tool for everybody, but it's silly to deny that the game is changing, and Apple is once again driving a large part of the change.
May '10
Re: Are iPad-Exclusive Publications the End of Print Media?
First of all, I think Branson is making a mistake distributing only to iPads. There just aren't that many iPads out there .. if Apple manages to sell an iPad to 5% of the population, that is still only 5% of the population.
But that doesn't mean he is making a mistake going digital only. The publication should be available on most digital platforms (iPad, iPhone, Android, Kindle, PC, Mac, Linux, ...) .This isn't as hard as it sounds between PDF and HTML5.
Second, I expect that the life span of the information in a publication will be the determining factor around whether (and/or how long) the non-digital market for it stays viable. By definition, daily newspapers last one day, so they will soon be eliminated by digital distribution. Weekly and monthly publications follow, but they may take a while. Novels, non-fiction books, and other "forever" publications will likely have a print segment that lasts forever. That said, distribution will likely move to more "print on demand". There is no reason that book has to be sitting in a warehouse. Why can't it be printed when I order it on Amazon?