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Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Media / Tech Apple Gives Print Media a Do-Over?

Posted by Brendan Kiley on Tue, Jan 26, 2010 at 12:20 PM

Maybe this is what has given the New York Times the confidence to start charging for its site again:

With the widely anticipated introduction of a tablet computer at an event here on Wednesday morning, Apple may be giving the media industry a kind of time machine — a chance to undo mistakes of the past.

Almost all media companies have run aground in the Internet Age as they gave away their print and video content on the Web and watched paying customers drift away as a result.

People who have seen the tablet say Apple will market it not just as a way to read news, books and other material, but also a way for companies to charge for all that content. By marrying its famously slick software and slender designs with the iTunes payment system, Apple could help create a way for media companies to alter the economics and consumer attitudes of the digital era.

UPDATE

The beautiful and talented Nat Irons, our IT director, offers a cleverer analysis of the situation:

This is the NYT's real paywall trick, I think:

By exempting inbound links from blogs they pretty neatly isolate their vast casual traffic from the "monetizable" hardcore news consumers.

Comments (7) RSS

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How long has print journalism had to prepare for the transistion to a society where nearly every bit of news is going to be delivered electronically?

Frankly, I have doubts as to the last remaining newspapers ability to adapt this late in the game.

Posted by Cato the Younger Younger on January 26, 2010 at 12:33 PM

You're talking about companies finding a new way to charge for their content, but what about the people who sell on behalf of the companies--the booksellers, comic book stores, newsstands, etc. Not so good for them. The tablet will be a double-edged sword.

Posted by starsandgarters on January 26, 2010 at 12:46 PM

Talk about closing the barn door after the horses have been let out . . .

Posted by mint chocolate chip on January 26, 2010 at 2:02 PM

Once again the NYT will come up with a solution nobody wants.

Sigh.

That said, I predict the iSlab tablet will be a surefire winner.

Posted by Will in Seattle

on January 26, 2010 at 2:32 PM

Ridiculous how the NYT's own reporter gets away with peddling the falsehood that somehow circulation revenue is the problem. Charging for content has never been the norm in print journalism - the cover price didn't even begin to cover the cost of printing and delivery.
NYT can probably survive a paywall. What will be really bad is that their move will lead a zillion other regional papers (like the Seattle Times) to follow suit.
Eventually, some American capitalist will invent a system for making honest-to-God money with online advertising. And when they do, every paywalled regional newspaper that ceded the market for free content will be snuffed out in six months.

Posted by noooooo on January 26, 2010 at 3:21 PM

Why are all these self-professed nerd waiting around for apple to do something before making major changes in the way they deliver media? Oh that's right, we can't do anything without the next i-gadget from Steven Jobs ya? It's not possible to have independent thoughts without him? The table PC will be a big deal before, after and during apple's attempt at delivering a product that a 2 year old can use and a grown adult will do nothing but swear at.

Posted by watchout5