Interesting piece from the New York Times on how, after high initial interest, readership of iPad editions is falling as magazine publishers struggle to find the right business model for the iPad and the expected new wave of tablet devices. The per issue model is not working as users look for subscription plans that deliver publications to their device – and at a much lower price than printed newstand versions.
Read more: For Magazines, a Bitter Pill in iPad
It’s been interesting week for online news junkies. Here in Bermuda, The Royal Gazette gave its website a much-needed makeover on Tusday while in London, The Sunday Times launched what is arguably the most impressive iPad version yet of a major newspaper.
Of course we’re comparing apples and oranges here in terms of resources and readership but I think it’s interesting to see how two newspapers, both established in the 1820s, are trying to figure how how to stay viable and relevant in a rapidly-changing media landscape.
The Gazette site really couldn’t have got any worse – although at the time of writing a poll on the site embarrassingly showed that 38% thought the new version was either “worse” or “much worse” (57% said it was improved or much improved).
At first glance, the site certainly looks cleaner, more readable and better organised but it doesn’t take long to realise that the changes are little more than cosmetic and that the Gazette still doesn’t really get the internet, digital publishing and just how disruptive and game-changing the technology will continue to be to the media business as a whole. (more…)
So why didn’t Apple think of this? Looks like what a lot of people are looking for and it’s definitely going on my Xmas list. (No, really, Santa I have been good this year …)
http://player.vimeo.com/video/16274294
CruxCase™ The iPad’s® New Best Friend from CruxCase on Vimeo.
Interesting piece by Gizmodo’s Joel Johnson on why Airplay may be the key to Apple TV’s success: http://gizmodo.com/5634087/forget-apple-tv-airplay-is-apples-sneak-attack-on-television
Without being able to test-drive it, it’s hard to know quite what to make of the revamped Apple TV.
Apple TV has become an integral and much-loved part of our family’s leisure time – as much for the promise of TV a la carte as for the convenience of renting movies on a whim and banishing video store late fees forever – and we’d just picked up a 160Gb version as we are increasingly loading it up with family movies and slideshows from the Mac. Even with Bermuda’s sluggish speeds, it works well enough for us to never go back to renting DVDs. Ever.
But I have to say I was hoping for a bit more from this next generation. Netflix is nice but you can’t get access from Bermuda without a US VPN – and given that the new Apple TV is apparently a purely streaming device with no storage, I’m not sure how that might work. At present you have to do a hack using aTV, and my experience is that the VPN doesn’t work easily – and of course there’s the hassle of having to renstall aTV if you update the Apple software.
Google’s YouTube plans Apple ITV spoiler | Broadband TV News.
The more competition the merrier! I can smell the decay of overpriced, poor service cable TV in the air already. Hopefully Google You Tube will offer up more than just Hollywood fare, though. iTunes has a growing selection of documentaries and channels but will hopefully be adding more independent content in the future.
