Tablet PCs re-shaping the media

Actually I think that the only hope that they have is to specialise. There is a market for both newspaper and digital but I do see digital becoming immensely more popular. Publishers should think a little out of the box here.

1. Try and create your site to be compatible with small screens (aka smart phones, and some tablets).
** If your site doesn't render well on these devices you are already out of the game
** It is a fact that the majority of people in SA access the internet on their mobile devices
** Charge LESS for using digital access. People value digital access less than they do physical objects
2. Try and specialise.
** It is HARD to be the first to break a story, trying to do is will almost always result in failure
** Have speciality topics instead. This is why readers will read your paper instead of someone else's
3. Another reason that people come to a site is
** Aesthetics
** Usuability
** Functionality (can I search for articles, are articles groups so I can find similar articles, can I look up articles chains e.g. Dina Rodriguez, Najwa Peterson, etc.
4. Make clever use of your advertising space. Don't just spam people. Remember internet in South Africa is either expensive or slow; or both :p

I really don't think just putting up a website with your articles on them is good enough anymore.
 
...except with additional interactivity. Interactive graphics, audio clips, video links, and social networks can all be built into tablet PC publications.
Click to expand...

At the moment cellular data costs might prevent a lot of people from actually doing this, unless they at home on wireless.

What might be an idea is for a news organisation to team up with one of the cellular companies - sell data and news as a special bundle.
 
I am getting all of my newspapers on my Xoom via Pressreader, USD30 a month for as much as I want.

The only newspaper that I can't get is The Star, so I just give that a miss.

After all, with the Beeld, Burger, Citizen, International Herald Tribune, Business Day, Finance Week, Financial Mail, Sunday Times, etc, and any international newspapers that I feel like, who needs The Star ?
 
Jola said:
I am getting all of my newspapers on my Xoom via Pressreader, USD30 a month for as much as I want.

The only newspaper that I can't get is The Star, so I just give that a miss.

After all, with the Beeld, Burger, Citizen, International Herald Tribune, Business Day, Finance Week, Financial Mail, Sunday Times, etc, and any international newspapers that I feel like, who needs The Star ?
Click to expand...

Interesting,anyone know why the star is excluding themselves like this?
 
I have no use for a tablet and cant see the point of one either .have 3 PC s and 2 net-books and of course my trusty SGS2
 
falcon786 said:
Interesting,anyone know why the star is excluding themselves like this?
Click to expand...

They want you to subscribe directly to them, but then it just works out too expensive.

Most people want to skim through a few papers at a reasonable cost, and don't want to pay premium subscriptions to one or two newspapers.

Clearly The Star doesn't understand the new business model for newspapers. But they will be forced to come to the party sooner or later, it's just simple economics.
 
The problem I find with trying to break the story first is the lack of facts and shoddy journalism. I cannot stand News24's breaking stories that change the perceived facts every 5 minutes. I would rather read a well researched, well written and well thought out article from a proper journalist than be subjected to poor journalism, even if it is a couple of hours later. Have we as consumers of news sacrificed quality over speed?
 
Still a problem

I for one will not pay for news on my pc, laptop or tablet. I've also stopped reading news24.com seeing that they insist that you add comments with your facebook user name and password.
These companies must stop and really THINK for a change and not force things onto people
 
SouldaFusion said:
The problem I find with trying to break the story first is the lack of facts and shoddy journalism. I cannot stand News24's breaking stories that change the perceived facts every 5 minutes. I would rather read a well researched, well written and well thought out article from a proper journalist than be subjected to poor journalism, even if it is a couple of hours later. Have we as consumers of news sacrificed quality over speed?
Click to expand...
News24 is horrible. I switched to Mail & Guardian.
 
IMO i wouldnt subscribe to a paper-specific app, why would I when i have the option of a variety of sources. I have been using the News24 app on IOS for a while now and its just not good enough, I prefer just plain old google news on my laptop or on my ipad, it just works better.

No one paper or online resource seems to get it right, I just wouldnt pay a fee (either initial fee or subscription) to only have access to one resource.....

"Use it, don't use it"
 
IMO the solution is to run the newpaper along well researched, contextualized and hard hitting news. I think this requires journalists like John Pilger and publications like Noseweek.
This is not something one can do in an hour, but it is also something worth waiting for, and maybe even paying a subscription.

The average level of journalism is very poor. They must jack up their game.
 
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