Tag Archives: Yasmin Namini

The New York Times and the tablet

This New York Times piece on print media’s hopes for the Apple Tablet, confirms that the company is developing a version of the paper for the tablet, but adds little detail:

The New York Times Company, for example, is developing a version of its newspaper for the tablet, according to a person briefed on the effort, although executives declined to say what sort of deal had been struck.

The New York Times has, however, announced its new ‘reader applications’ division:

On Monday, The Times also announced that its media group division had created a new segment for “reader applications,” and named Yasmin Namini, the senior vice president for marketing and circulation, to head it. Executives said the timing was coincidental, prompted not by the Apple device specifically, but by the growing importance to The Times of electronic reading devices in general.

The LA Times, meanwhile, reports that the New York Times is developing a large-screen version of the iPhone app – from Apple HQ:

Apple has been slowly amassing digital reading material for the forthcoming device. A team from the New York Times has been working in Apple’s Cupertino, Calif., headquarters in recent weeks, developing a large-screen version of the newspaper’s iPhone application that incorporates video for the yet-to-be-unveiled device, according to one person with knowledge of the matter. A Times spokeswoman declined to comment.

On MacRumours.com:

The New York Times has long held a close relationship with Apple in regards to the iPhone platform, frequently finding itself featured in demonstrations at media events and keynotes. Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger, Jr. revealed last week, however, that he will not be attending Apple’s media event, and when pressed for comment on Apple’s involvement with the newspaper’s plans for restructuring online access, said only “Stay tuned.”

And Gawker, which had the internal memo announcing the birth of the NY Times’ ‘reader application’ division:

We’re guessing [NY Times] newsroom staff will be watching Apple’s tablet event as obsessively as any Apple fanboys later this week, if only to get details on the “continued growth in this new and important segment of” Times business.

#Outlook2010: There’s a business opportunity in e-readers, says NYTimes circulation VP

Last week Journalism.co.uk attended the INMA and Online Publishers Association (OPA) Europe’s annual conference Outlook 2010 – the event focused on innovation, transformation and making money for media businesses. Follow our coverage at this link.

“There’s a real opportunity for paid electronic products,” Yasmin Namini, senior vice president of circulation at the New York Times, told delegates last week.

Namini was specifically referring to the NYTimes’ experience in this area – the paper created a unique ‘bundled’ offering with Amazon’s Kindle. The NYTimes Kindle offer at $499-a-year was the latest version of the e-reader (the DX), in a NYTimes branded leather wallet and came with a year’s subscription to the paper’s Kindle edition.

Sounds like a hefty price tag – but to buy a Kindle DX is $489 and it’s £168 for a one-year NYTimes subscription on the device.

“We wanted to test our capabilities to sell a device and a subscription as a bundle,” explains Namini.

The deal was launched as a test at the end of September and nearly every available NYTimes-Kindle has been sold. Furthermore the offer was only marketed (via an e-mail campaign) to expired subscribers to the print edition and potential readers outside of print home-delivery routes. The first sale was made within 10 minutes of the e-mails being sent out, adds Namini.

Similar trials have also been run by the Washington Post and the Boston Globe, according to a release from Amazon.

Some caveats from Namini to publishers looking to launch similar packages – publishers should:

  • Maintain the billing relationship with the customer
  • Determine the pricepoint for customer
  • Have access to customer data