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AOL launches Editions into the personal-newspaper iPad app fray
Well before the iPad was even a gleam in the most ardent Apple-lover's eye, the marriage of tablet computing and a personalized newspaper was already a foregone conclusion/killer app in waiting. Arthur C. Clarke and Stanley Kubrick even captured the possibility of the 'Newspad' in the 1968 classic 2001: A Space Odyssey. Now we've got scores of apps aiming to deliver the same focused dose of information to iPad users: from social-focused tools like Flipboard, Zite and Taptu to reimagined versions of the daily newspaper like The Daily (not to mention the apps from actual ink-and-paper outfits like USA Today, the New York Times and more). Add to the list a stylish and somewhat innovative offering from our corporate parents at AOL: Editions, launched today and free on the App Store. Editions bills itself as a "new daily magazine that reads you," and while that may sound a little bit creepy the concept is quite nice. Editions lets you define sections that mirror what you might see in a daily paper: Top News, Business, Tech, and so on. There's even a Local News section that will deliver stories from your neighborhood (partly driven by AOL's hyperlocal Patch.com sites). You choose the sections you want, along with your font size and banner cover, and your magazine starts composing itself -- complete with snazzy cover and weather info where the subscriber label would be. The banner looks like it might be a tribute to Time Inc.'s Western regional magazine Sunset. Of course, you can get quite a bit more granular than just the high-level section choices. If you hook Editions up with your AOL, Twitter and Facebook identities, the app will take a look at the news sources you mention and the topics you're interested in to sketch a rough profile of the news you can use. You can dive into your complete sources/interests profile and delete the automatic assumptions, or add new ones. A note of community interest: Adding sources is by the name of the site, not the URL, so if you want to find TUAW you need to start typing our full name, 'The Unofficial Apple Weblog.' As you browse through Editions, you can give instant feedback on the tags/keywords associated with a story: 'show me less about The Bachelorette' or more, if that floats your boat. Similarly, if there's a particular news source you appreciate or one you'd rather not include, just mark them with a check or an X in a story to let Editions know how you feel. Your feedback gets rolled into your personal profile so that the next day's issue has more of what you like to read, and less of what you don't. Editions is built to download new stories once a day -- actually giving you a limited bite of news, and letting you have the satisfaction of 'reaching the end of the Internet' rather than continuously providing a stream of new content round the clock. True news junkies may furrow their brows at this parsimony, but the experience is a lot like The Daily's reasonable level of content: not too much, not too little, and certainly enough to get you through a morning. One thing to keep in mind about using Editions is that for most stories, you'll only see an opening excerpt in the magazine interface; when you tap to see more, the in-app browser takes you directly to the news provider's site, thereby delivering pageviews to the original publisher. This is possibly a more ethical (and less litigation-prone) approach than some other newspad apps have used, but the drawback is that you can't do as much reading when you're offline (for that, I'm a big Instapaper fan). The exception is content drawn from AOL-owned sources like the Huffington Post, Patch, WalletPop, Engadget (and, well, us); those stories load in full and are available offline. If you're looking for an attractive daily news app that's easy to configure and should learn more about you as you read, take a look at Editions and see what you think. %Gallery-129818% AOL is the parent company of TUAW.
New York Post blocks iPad access through Safari browser, hopes you'll pay for a subscription instead
Well, that's one way to make people pay for puns. The New York Post, that bastion of fair, balanced, and not-at-all sensationalistic reporting, has blocked iPad owners from reading its stories through the tablet's Safari browser. If folks want the full spill on Hugh Hefner getting ditched at the altar, they'll be prompted to download the iOS app, which requires signing up for a subscription starting at $6.99 on a month-to-month basis. Setting aside News Corp.'s hubris for a moment, what's odd about this is the number of workarounds Rupert Murdoch & Co. left us cheapskates. You can still read the site on a desktop browser or a phone, including an Android one. Basically, then, News Corp. is strangling web access, but only for a select group of readers. That's a stark contrast from other content providers (even the News Corp-owned Wall Street Journal), which have been more platform-agnostic. Then again, there's the dim possibility that News Corp. targeted the iPad in an effort to re-brand the Post as a glossier sort of tabloid, à la The Daily. To which we say, that's some wishful thinking there, Rupe.
Financial Times web app debuts for iOS, more tablets to come (video)
It's not often that we get the opportunity to mention the Financial Times and Playboy Magazine in the same sentence, but the two publications do have at least one thing in common: App Store aversion. Today, the FT launched a new, entirely web-based app, designed to circumvent iTunes (and Apple's 30 percent revenue cut) altogether. The paper says its single, cross-platform app will allow it to issue updates with more frequency, while reaching an audience that extends far beyond the iOS realm. Though the subscription service is only available for iPhone and iPad users at the moment, versions catered for Galaxy Tab, Xoom and PlayBook users are coming soon. Perhaps more important, however, is what this move could mean for other publishers -- many of whom haven't taken too kindly to Apple's subscription revenue and data-sharing practices. FT managing editor Rob Grimshaw says his paper has "no plans to pull out of any apps store," but if the system proves viable, it could open the door for others to pursue their own, similarly HTML5-based ventures, in the hopes of retaining full revenues and access to subscriber information. We'll have to wait and see whether this iTunes exodus ever materializes, but in the meantime, iOS users can hit the source link to enjoy the new app, available for free until July 14th. Others, meanwhile, can head past the break to see a demo video, narrated in appropriately dulcet, British tones.
Study wrongly suggests iPad readers skim, show poor retention
Miratech conducted a study that compared the way people read a newspaper with the way they read on the iPad. The research used reading time, gaze patterns and eye movement to discern any difference between the two mediums. The study concluded that people concentrate more on the content and remember an article better when they read the newspaper. This result is tantalizing and may seem to bolster the opinion that the iPad is a toy, while the newspaper is where people turn for their real news. Before you toss the iPad in the trash, this survey has two major flaws. First, the authors don't tell us how many people participated in the survey. It could be 50 or 5,000. This number is important as the smaller the sample size, the larger the margin of error. Also, the authors admit they had participants read similar information from a newspaper first and then from its iPad version. No wonder people only skimmed an article on an iPad -- they just read it in the newspaper! I wonder if the results would have been different if the researchers reversed this order and handed people an iPad first and a newspaper second.
UK newspaper The Telegraph offers subscriptions through iPad
The UK newspaper The Telegraph has released version 2.0 of its iPad app. The updated app features a 30-day archive, night reading mode and greater depth of content, including video, picture galleries, graphics and cartoon archives. However, the big feature of the updated app is the pricing plans. Users can now download the paper each day for £1.19 (US$1.99). Admittedly, that is rather pricey, but The Telegraph makes up for its daily rates by offering monthly subscriptions for £9.99 (U$16.99). That's 70% off the daily rate, and considering The Telegraph is published every day, that's quite a bit of information for your buck (or quid). For those keeping track, a monthly subscription to the paper edition is £26.40, so the iPad edition saves you quite a lot. Also, Telegraph readers who currently have a subscription to the paper edition can download the iPad edition for free by entering their subscriber number. Readers should note that, as with traditional newspaper subscriptions, the monthly subscription to the iPad edition is auto-renewing, so users will need to cancel it or they will be automatically billed when the next month comes up. The Telegraph for iPad is a free download. [via Electronista]
The Daily generated 800,000 downloads, $10 million loss in first quarter of operation
It's still too early to pass judgment on News Corp's daring venture into tablet-only newspapers, The Daily, but at least we now have an idea of how much it costs to get a project like this off the ground. Having spent $30 million developing the concept before launch, the company's latest quarterly reports indicate another $10 million loss was incurred on the early operations of The Daily. That's resulted in 800,000 total downloads of the iPad-only app, though a breakdown of how many of those were just trying out the free trial and how many have stuck around for the paid version hasn't been forthcoming. News Corp stresses that The Daily is still a work in progress, one that we've heard may also be making its way onto Android tablets, and looks very much committed to seeing its plan through to the end. So if this digital-only, subscription-paid news idea fails, it won't be for lack of trying.
Newspaper thinktank predicted the iPad in 1994
It's not often (well, ever) that I consider the possibility someone might be from the future, but maybe Roger Fidler was. In 2007 the Paleofuture blog pointed to the video below, where Fidler and his team at Knight-Ridder describe an electronic newspaper running on what might as well be an iPad... except that the video was made way back in 1994. Most futurists are off the mark, or make forecasts for technologies that are so far off in the future, you'll never know if they are right, but the Knight-Ridder team's predictions for the "electronic tablet" were just eerie. Granted, they forecast it for the turn of the century -- and in their version of the future, people still wore collarless denim shirts -- but it's otherwise freakishly accurate. "We may still use computers to create information, but we will use the tablet to interact with print, video and other information," the video explains. It also goes on to describe personal "profile pages," "interactive maps" and sharing links with friends. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. It even seems like Fidler is channeling Steve Jobs at some points, saying "Nobody needs a manual for their daily newspaper" and that tablet newspapers need to be kept simple. Amazingly, he even seems to describe iAds. Of course, the Knight-Ridder tablet wasn't the first futurist's take on a pad-shaped newsreader, but at least this one doesn't also come with a neurotic killer computer in space. If you were watching this video in 1994, you were watching 13 minutes of the future. Read on to see the clip. Bonus points to Fidler & co. for the classic PowerBook Duo, Newton and other Apple history in the background. [via The Inquisitr; hat tip to Bronwen Clune]
Amazon launches German Kindle Store with 650,000 titles and lots of long words
After having already penetrated the UK's e-book market last year, Amazon has now launched the German Kindle Store, bringing more than 650,000 titles to Europe's most populous country. With today's launch, the German Kindle Store instantly becomes Germany's biggest e-bookstore, with some 25,000 German-language titles, thousands of free classics, and a similarly bountiful collection of independent newspapers and magazines. Customers will also be able to purchase the latest Kindle and Kindle 3G models directly from Amazon.de, along with a whole new suite of free, German-language Kindle apps for iPhone, iPad, PC and Android platforms. Germany's writers and publishers, meanwhile, can use the Kindle Direct Publishing service to make their works instantly available on the new store, where, if they're lucky, they may get to pocket some handsome royalties, as well. Full press release after the break.
Nook matches Kindle by bundling free web access to NYTimes.com with digital edition sub
Adhering to strict alphabetical order, where Amazon leads, Barnes & Noble follows. The Kindle was last week announced to include access beyond the New York Times' freshly erected online paywall as part of its device subscription to the NYT and now, lo and behold, the Nook family (including the Nook Color) is following suit in identical fashion. If you're happy to obtain your sub to New York's finest paper from the Nook Newsstand -- which costs $20 per month, same as Amazon's levy -- you'll get the bonus, complimentary, free-of-charge privilege of being able to access NYTimes.com without any constraints as well. So what if the online edition used to be free for the past eleventy years? The new Times dictates some fealty be paid and we're happy to see these e-reader purveyors helping to alleviate (mask?) that cost for some of us. Full PR after the break.
Kindle subscription to the New York Times will net you free web access as well
Can't get enough New York Times over your Whispernet? Worry not, dear Kindle reader, for Amazon's on a roll with its announcements today, the latest of which is that a subscription to the NYT on its world-conquering e-reader will also grant users access to the paywall-protected NYTimes.com online portal. No complex rules or conditions, you'll just be one of the insiders who get unfettered access to all the fine old school journalism practiced at Times towers. See Amazon's press release after the break or hit the source link to learn more about the $28-a-month (for international users) subscription. Update: The sub price is $20 in the USA, the $28 cost we first saw relates to those signing up from the UK and other international markets. Thanks, russke!
New York Times reveals labyrinthine subscription plans, Canadian readers already hitting paywall
We knew it was coming, and now The New York Times has followed through on its promise to erect a paywall for online content, which means no more free news -- kind of. Starting today in Canada and March 28th in the US, NYTimes.com will ask visitors reading more than 20 articles per month to pay for their info fix. The new plan offers monthly subscriptions of $15 with a smartphone app, $20 with tablet app, or $35 for complete digital access -- subscribers with a physical subscription will be granted a full pass, except on e-readers. Further convoluting the pay structure, entry from sites like Twitter and Facebook won't face the same restrictions, and access via Google is set at five free visits per day. Other news sources, including The Wall Street Journal, have already started charging for online content in the face of declining ad revenue, but this is certainly one of the most elaborate systems we've seen so far. The subscription plan was unleashed in Canada today, allowing the paper to iron out any kinks before hitting the US, which means you've got just under two weeks to hit NYTimes.com completely free -- after that, prepare to be confused.
Online news overtakes paper, and nearly half of it is mobile
Wait, this is just now happening? The Pew Project's 2011 report on mobile devices' effect on media was published this week; it's a fascinating read from end to end that reveals a wild swing in the way we've gathered news and information as human beings over the past decade, but a couple stats really stand out. First off, the internet has finally overtaken newspapers as a news source, putting it behind just television -- and we already know the writing's on the wall there since the young ones are already preferring the web. And of those web-savvy, voracious consumers of information, some 47 percent are getting at least some of it on the go, either through their phone or tablet (like, say, Engadget's lovely selection of mobile apps). Mass transit commuters have always been a haven for newspaper-toting businessfolk -- but with iPads continuing to sell like hotcakes, not even the subway is safe from the tablet onslaught.
Yahoo! announces Livestand for iPad, available first half 2011
If you've been following TUAW's reports about The Daily, you're aware that many of the TUAW bloggers are so fed up with the buggy, crashing newspaper app that they've removed it from their iPads while the app is still free. For me, the crashes and slow loading weren't as much of an irritant as the lack of customizable and local content. I just don't want to pay for horoscopes, fashion news and entertainment gossip that I can't turn off, and the fact that I can't read any local news on the app killed it for me. Yahoo! has apparently been listening, as the struggling internet giant has announced -- but hasn't shipped -- its solution to the problem that is The Daily. It has announced Livestand for iPad, a customizable news app that will be available "in the first half of 2011." There's no word on whether Yahoo! plans to offer the app for free or, as in the case of The Daily, it will be using subscriptions to refill its coffers. Yahoo! wants to capitalize on the huge volume of content that it has available from multiple publishers, the billions of photos available from Flickr and the many advertising agreements it already has in place. The company says that Livestand will be a digital newsstand that is "continuously programmed by a person's interests and contexts." Some of the screenshots (obviously mockups since the app isn't yet available) show local content boxes with top stories, weather and more, all wrapped in a very visual package that is reminiscent of the Flipboard content page. That makes me wonder if it might not just be a better, and more timely, solution to just load Flipboard with RSS feeds of local news from Yahoo! That solution would also make it less likely for me to have to put up with ads that are "data-rich, actionable, even location aware." I'll let you know how my Yahoo! feeds + Flipboard = Local Newspaper experiment works. Perhaps I'll get my own version of Livestand for iPad well before July rolls around. [via MacStories]
European newspaper publishers unhappy with Apple's publication requirements
A few European publishers have heard from Apple about subscription arrangements on the App Store, and they're not happy at all. The agreement isn't that surprising -- just as with the current setup in iTunes for software developers, Apple is asking that all subscriptions go through them, and that they take their usual 30 percent cut. But that has European publishers quite angry -- not only is the price higher than they want to pay, but they say it's because Apple will cut them out of access to things like subscriber demographics and other inside information that they'd have if they ran subscriptions themselves. All fair points. Apple definitely doesn't want to "lose control" of any possible in-app subscriptions, and since it already controls access to the App Store, these publishers are at Apple's whims anyway. If publishers try to run a subscription scheme Apple doesn't agree with, their apps likely won't stay on the App Store for long. Of course, the real meter here is The Daily -- while it got a nice reaction at launch, if that model doesn't prove itself to be profitable or workable, publications may not bother with the App Store anyway. Even if they don't run apps through Apple's subscription channels, there's still Mobile Safari and conventional paywalls. [via App Advice]
Steve Sande: A first look at The Daily
I haven't read a newspaper since the Rocky Mountain News went belly-up a few years ago, and I'm not a fan of broadcast or cable news at all. So Rupert Murdoch (at right, during this morning's press conference) and his minions at News Corp have a long way to go to impress someone who pretty much gets all of his news from RSS feeds, occasional peeks at news websites, and Twitter. I downloaded The Daily for free a few minutes ago and will be reading it for the next two weeks courtesy of Verizon, but the big question is whether or not I'll continue to read the iPad-only newspaper after that point. At first glance, The Daily appears to be a good "national and international news source." As noted during this morning's press conference, it uses the capabilities of the iPad to the max. As the inaugural editorial mentions, "Modern technology has given us more ways to tell stories than ever before -- words, pictures, audio, video and interactive graphics. The Daily will deliver them all." Indeed, The Daily even provides such TUAW staples as app reviews, with direct links to the App Store. But before you stop reading TUAW, realize that we cover "nothin' but Apple." With The Daily, you'll get opinion pieces on Bollywood as well... The Apps & Games section of the The Daily included a video today about The Oregon Trail moving to Facebook, and you can flip to the News section with a tap or two and watch a video piece about the uprising in Egypt. There's also a daily video update that is available from the carousel page with links to the top stories. You tap on the video to go right to a featured story. Click read more (below the gallery) for the rest of my first impressions. We'll have more impressions from other TUAW writers later today. %Gallery-115577%
The Daily now available in the App Store
As of this writing, Rupert Murdoch and team are taking questions from the press during The Daily's launch event, and the app itself is now live in the App Store. The long-anticipated app was finally demonstrated and released earlier today. Verizon is sponsoring a free two-week trial period for all customers. After that it will cost US$0.99 per day week or 39.99 per year. We'll have more on The Daily throughout the day, so check back often.
Live from The Daily launch event, with Apple's Eddy Cue
Is the future of media an iPad-exclusive daily newspaper that's delivered automatically overnight using a new subscription service? We're here at the Guggenheim Museum in New York for the launch of News Corp's The Daily to find out -- and Apple's VP of internet services Eddy Cue is scheduled to join Rupert Murdoch on stage, so things could get interesting. Join us, won't you?
The Daily launch at 11am to stream live, News.me coming to compete
It's less than an hour until the NYC launch event for The Daily, News Corp's much-anticipated newspaper for the iPad. If you want to keep up with the event live, it appears that it will be streamed directly from thedaily.com. For those who follow such things, Poynter has sussed out the likely masthead crew for the publication's launch, and it's well stocked with print and new media veterans. Meanwhile, other publishing behemoths are not standing still while Rupert Murdoch stakes a claim on the touchable territory of daily iPad periodicals. TechCrunch reports that News.me, the New York Times' quasi-answer to The Daily, is being built by Betaworks and will be much more of a social newsreader (think Flipboard on steroids) than a traditional, original-content driven title. The app will include both licensed and free-to-read content that is curated, promoted and passively voted-up by your Twitter friends and followers. However you like your iPad news -- print-centric, or driven by the titans of broadcast and cable news, or pushed from Internet-only upstarts -- your choices are about to expand. [hat tips to Macstories & Gizmodo]
USA Today sees iPad app as "real positive" for industry
While many newspapers are struggling financially and trying to figure out how to move from paper and ink to digital content, it appears that Gannett's USA Today is doing quite well on the iPad. Last August, the paper was in the midst of a restructuring and cut 130 staff members. At that time, USA Today made a commitment of resources to the iPad app. Now The Telegraph is reporting that the app is turning out to be a boon to USA Today. Gracia Martore, COO of Gannett, said on Monday that "The iPad has been a real positive for USA Today," and will "translate into a much more significant improvement" in revenues. Over 1.4 million copies of the app have been downloaded since April, and at this time, the digital newspaper is still ad-supported and free. That might change in the future as competition warms up (News Corp's The Daily is set to debut tomorrow), although the ads in the app command a price about five times that of standard web ads and appear to be fueling revenue growth at the paper. USA Today's happy story is in sharp contrast to reports from many magazine publishers, who are seeing rapid declines in readership for iPad editions after initial success. Tomorrow's unveiling of The Daily will usher in an in-app subscription feature, which should eliminate publisher frustrations with the current need for readers to purchase each issue separately. Whether or not USA Today and other iPad publishers will adopt the new subscription feature is unknown, but it will make it much easier for readers to purchase and renew their subscriptions to iPad newspapers and magazines. That, in turn, should help content providers gain and keep readers for the digital editions. [via AppleInsider]
The French gain a 3D iPad Newstand
We've heard much talk of a virtual NewsStand for the iPad, but have yet to see one, until now. It seems, the French are the first to get a selection of magazines available on the iPad all from one app -- in virtual 3D, no less. Le Kiosque, by LeKiosque.fr, is a free iPad app that sells magazines via in-app purchase. According to the Le Kiosque iOS App Store description (with the aid of some nifty Google translation in tow), the app has a 3D kiosk interface with more than 400 magazines available at up to 70% off the real-world, glossy-paper equivalent. Once you've purchased your favourite mag, you can view it straight away via "streaming playback" -- no download wait times. There's also an off-line mode as well as access to archived back issues. From what we can gather (with the aid of Google Translate, once again), according to a telephone interview conducted by FRECHWEB.FR with Le Kiosque's head of marketing, Michael Philippe, two months of negotiations were held between Apple and the Le Kiosque team before the app was approved. Apparently, Le Kiosque was hoping to offer subscription-based content, but Apple refused. Where've we heard that before? Though in French, Le Kiosque is available in the US and UK iOS App Stores with some daily news content in English. Check out a video of the app in action after the break. [Via 9 to 5 Mac, FRENCHWEB.FR]
