Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) will launch 15 applications in Apple’s iTunes store over the next six months.
Apps for Mail Online, Metro.co.uk and six other properties are expected to go live early next year. All will be free to download and supported by advertising.
Magazine publishers are developing more mature products for iPhones now than when the industry first started making applications for smartphones, argues this article.
The apps were free, the features were a little weak compared to what independent developers could do, and the rich design of print didn’t translate to a touch screen.
But the iPhone edition that Esquire expects to release alongside its January issue will offer robust interactive features, and it won’t be free. The price, $2.99 a month, is small, but it is a big statement.
But can they use this experience to create better products for new tablet computers from the outset?
The Guardian’s new and ‘official’ iPhone app went live this morning, priced at £2.39: http://www.guardian.co.uk/iphone.
Most Guardian content is available via the app. Video is among the features not yet available, but according to an FAQ more will be added in future.
Like the Telegraph’s latest iPhone offering, the Guardian’s app has an offline mode.
GNM product manager Jonathon Moore wants users’ feedback, he said on Twitter.
The Telegraph has launched a new version of its iPhone app, with new sharing features, an offline facility, and a function to alert the Telegraph to a breaking news story.
“By clicking on the ‘Report’ button, users can upload a photo and give a brief eyewitness account of breaking news,” the Telegraph reported yesterday.
“This new, improved app provides a really rich, multimedia news experience,” said Maani Safa, head of mobile at Telegraph Media Group. “We’ve made the software as easy to use as possible, and there are lots of features that readers will love.”
Its first iPhone app was launched earlier this year and it has also developed a variety of apps for BlackBerry and Google Android.
The Telegraph has also launched a citizen journalism competition to coincide with the new launch: readers are encouraged to send in ‘newsworthy’ words or images for a chance to see their item published on Telegraph.co.uk and win iTunes vouchers.
“Please don’t blow it – there’s a big opportunity for mobile with newspaper companies,” was Martha Stone, director of the Shaping the Future of the Newspaper project, opening statement to the World Editors Forum (WEF) and World Association of Newspapers (WAN) conference in Hyderabad today.
But organisations must take it seriously ‘from the get go’, added Stone: “Even if you don’t see the business model immediately, just as we didn’t see a business model immediately for the internet.”
Sharing research from a new study, Stone said building iPhone apps and applications for other mobile properties was top priority across an international range of newspaper respondents.
So what should these groups be building?
Stone went on to outline the revenue opportunities for newspapers in mobile:
Mobile is already a key part of some newspapers’ advertising strategy, added Stone, who cited the examples of USA Today and the Sacramento Bee both using text advertising on mobile.
The Sacramento Bee in particular has used mobile advertising for previously print-only advertisers – a campaign for one plant nursery client using text advertising resulted in its largest weekend of sales.
More mature mobile markets have taken the proposition further – Scandinavian title Aftonbladet has used QR codes in both editorial and advertising.
Looking beyond traditional newspaper ground may be significant, in particular for the opportunities that lie in mobile social networking. Japanese social networking site Mobage Town, for example, which has 12 million people registered, uses advertising, affiliate sponsorships and avatar sales to generate revenues.
All #WANIndia2009 coverage from Journalism.co.uk at this link.
Something lighthearted for a Friday: BBC newsreader Alison Rooper used her iPhone earlier today to avoid dead air after the corporation’s telephone and computer system crashed.
Rooper had the script for the 7am bulletin sent to her iPhone where she deftly scrolled through creating her own autocue.
The issue of resolution aside, Richard Koci Hernandez takes a look at photography apps for iPhones that can offer journalists and photographers room to experiment with their images and picture-taking.
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Digital newspaper edition provider PressDisplay has launched its PressReader app for the iPhone, offering 1,300 newspapers.
The app is free to download and seven free editions are being offered for a test period this month.
After that it will be 99 cents to read the PDF (or text version) of a chosen paper. You can also have the paper read to you by clicking on the headphones icon.
According to reports, Google has bought mobile advertising company Admobfirm for £450 million ($750 million).
The deal will help Google capitalise on the growth in mobile search it has recently reported.
“Admob helps firms advertise on mobile web sites, as well as providing the technology for serving said adverts on mobiles. It also works with applications for in-applications advertising,” explains The Inquirer.
The Manchester Evening News (MEN) has become one of the first UK regional titles to launch a news application for the iPhone.
The free-to-download app, which was launched on October 2, has already been downloaded 1,000 times, according to an MEN report.
MEN, which has a mobile site, will tap into smartphone users with the app and also encourage users to share news items on Twitter and Facebook.
A short video of the app, which was developed by Spreed Inc – who also created Canadian newspaper the Globe and Mail’s iPhone app, can be seen below: