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If you frequently take a train or a bus, like me, you may have noticed the growing population who are adopting tablets. This time last year, I would have been hard pressed to notice a single person using a tablet on my train. Last week there were at least 8 people on our train using an iPad or Kindle tablet.
Last Friday I sat beside a young woman who was reading her iPad, I sneaked a peek and noticed she was reading ‘The Times'. The daily digital download version. I excused myself in advance and asked her what she thought of it. “This?” she said? “Yeah, I love it, I have read The Times for years, but this is so much more convenient'. She then proceeded to show me the sudoku and crossword pages and the interactive content. I have to say, I was impressed.
Feeling somewhat behind the times (no pun intended) I decided to do a little research. The Times on the iPad costs £9.99 a month if you download direct from the Apple store and first time users will get a 30 day trial. If you purchase directly from the company, you also get access to the Sunday Editions, as well as a slight reduction in the price.
According to further research it appears that the readership for the tablet newspaper is steadily growing, rising from 52,000 a month from November in 2010 to around 100,000 in recent months. Around £1 million a month revenue might not be a huge amount of money in some circles, but it certainly seems off to a healthy start.
Other newspapers are sensing the shift in medium and The Guardian have recently released their daily newspaper and the Sunday Observer on the Kindle. These can be downloaded every day in not only the UK, but 100 countries across the globe. Again, the pricing scheme is £9.99 a month and you are entitled to a 14 day free trial which can be cancelled before you have to fork over money.
We have tested the paper on the Kindle, and while it is easier on the eyes, due to the E-Ink technology, we feel that a newspaper works very well on the iPad. Full colour images, faster movement and interactive content just brings the daily newspaper experience to life. We have heard that an iPad version will be released in the future, but have yet to get a confirmed date.
Kitguru says: Have you tried a newspaper on a tablet yet? Are you a regular subscriber or do you prefer the traditional print and ink version? Let us know
I have no tablet. have never even seen one running. I would love to. I end up reading a paper cramped in half a seat sometimes on a bus in the morning.
The times locally costs a lot more too in paper format, so its quite a saving. Could probably make back the cost of an ipad in a few years, even if you did nothing else with the tablet.
yeah, trying to convince myself and failing 🙂
I think as the younger audience grow up that newspapers might just die completely. Sure, the editorial content is normally higher quality than online, but Im afraid to say that the majority of the younger audience wont care. I can see right now that people who are into tech and maybe in their 30-40s are reading these, but as they get older and the younger audience get into this age group that newspapers as a whole will die.
RSS feeds? twitter links? all right up to the minute news and gossip, and totally free. just my 5c
THere is also dedicated news sites like the BBC and Yahoo. free. It is hard for a newspaper to compete.
That said, the Sun in UK is selling millions every day. is this just the older audience? its really hard to get a handle on the future with this. its interesting to notice 100,000 ipad users read the times on their device. I would never have guessed that.
I remember my politics teacher telling us nearly 20 years ago that newspapers would be dead in a decade. His evidence? Teletext
Perhaps not quite yet. I predict the Daily Telegraph will survive longest. It’s hard to light a fire, or line a dog-basket or the back-seat of a Land Rover with a tablet…
I think your politics teacher will be right. just a little later than he might have thought