Aussie newspaper selling out ads for 1st iPad edition
The Australian is busy prepping its iPad app, which will deliver issues of the newspaper to subscribers. Thus far, signing up subscribers has gone well; 3 months worth of ads have also been sold, including to big names like IBM and Toyota.
The paper has created an ad package that includes 3 months' worth of category exclusivity on the iPad version, plus spots in the physical paper and online. Developers hope to have video as part of the app at launch, if not very shortly thereafter. One challenge identified by managing editor Grant Holloway has been converting ads from Flash to HTML5.
According to Holloway, "...the iPad won't play Flash and a lot of online ads use Flash, so there are a lot of people who are going to have to become very familiar with HTML5. If they've got their head around it, they'll be able to do cool stuff -- better than anything they can do online." It's not exactly clear what he means by 'online,' but he's excited!
Call it novelty, but I've read more newspaper articles since buying my iPad than I have in who knows how long. Earlier this week I saw that my hometown paper has hired a development firm to create an iPad delivery system. Now that I live so far away, I can't get the Scranton Times, but I still like to know what's going on. An iPad version would fit the bill nicely.
Expect The Australian's app to cost $4.99 per month at launch as "an introductory price." The cost will be reconsidered when version 2 is released.
[Via iPad Watcher]
