Newspaper & Mailroom

iPad presses publishers’ buttons

Wednesday 19. May 2010 - Since the introduction of the iPad, some pundits have heralded Apple’s Tablet PC as the digital saviour for newspapers. But with business models and other relevant technologies still emerging, newspaper publishers face a precarious predicament: Imagining their content on every conceivable platform.

In its just-published May/June edition, WAN-IFRA Magazine examines the potential impact of the iPad on newspapers’ digital strategies, and that of other digital devices as well.

Newspapers are racing to get apps ready for the iPad, which has created a sensation similar to that of Apple’s iPhone. But is the iPad truly the sure thing for publishers, and will tablets and e-readers simply offer the same experience?

“The publishers who are not doing any projects on e-readers probably think the iPad is an easy way to skip the e-reading question – but they were sceptical anyway,” says Stig Nordqvist, Group Director of Emerging Digital Platforms and Business Development for the World Association of Newspaper and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA). “The smart ones do both, I think, because they are different tools and very different usage patterns will emerge in the near future.”

The May/June edition of the magazine features all of the significant players and technologies in the growing digital reading market, as well as the keys that might drive their success, especially for publishers.

The WAN-IFRA Magazine, available in print and ePaper editions, is the international journal of newspapers and news publishing. It is distributed to employees of WAN-IFRA’s member media companies in nearly 80 countries, and subscribed to by hundreds of other publishing industry insiders and analysts. The scope of the coverage encompasses everything from reader development, editorial quality and advertising innovations to printing technology and business strategy, with all things digital, mobile and online in between.

To subscribe or learn more about the magazine, visit www.wan-ifra.org/magazine or contact subscription manager Iris von der Marwitz: (phone) +49 (0)6151-733-791; (email) iris.vdmarwitz@wan-ifra.org.

The latest issue also includes:

Profile: Le Figaro expands offer

French publisher Le Figaro now considers itself optimally positioned to offer numerous added-value products and thus conquer new markets – thanks in large part to its new state-of-the-art printing centre near Paris.

Profile: Cross-media ad sales

Singapore Press Holdings and Russia’s Komsomolskaya Pravda share their strategies for offering creative cross-media advertising packages to increase ad sales everywhere they can.

CRM: Using knowledge to improve services

Today, as news publishers confront a number of difficult economic realities, Customer Relationship Management, or CRM, deserves greater attention. A number of the industry’s leading suppliers describe what publishers should consider to implement a sound CRM strategy.

How do I calculate my Carbon footprint?

In summer 2009, WAN-IFRA launched the “Sustainability in Newspaper Production” research project with a technical university in Leipzig, Germany. Ronald Weidel is in charge of the project at Leipzig and discusses the content and objectives of this ambitious project in an exclusive interview.

http://www.wan-ifra.org
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