Tablets are just the medicine for newspapers, says expert

APPLE's iPad and the Android-based tablet devices about to flood the market will be a game-changer for the newspaper business, says a leading media and technology analyst.
''Newspapers for many years have been looking for this kind of device to charge users for content, and the internet was never that,'' said Foad Fadaghi, research director at consultancy Telsyte.
His comments come ahead of tomorrow's launch by The Age of a native iPad app.
Advertisement: Story continues below
Apple has sold more than 20 million iPads since the device went on sale in April 2010. The company does not release sales figures for the Australian market but Mr Fadaghi estimates that by the end of this year Apple will have sold about 1 million iPads here.
The uptake of tablets is likely to swell as the market is flooded with non-Apple devices, mostly using Google's Android platform. But people will only buy tablets if there is enough unique content to make it worth their while.
''In the tablet world, media guys should have more power because the content offers a strong value proposition,'' said Mr Fadaghi.
At some point, he said, tablets come down in cost to such a degree that it might become feasible for media companies to give them away to subscribers as part of a bundled deal, just as telcos already do with mobile phones bundled with data and call plans.

The importance of content as a driver of sales was underlined by Apple's decision to co-develop with Rupert Murdoch's News Corp the world's first iPad-only newspaper, at an estimated start-up cost of $US30 million.
The Daily was launched in the US in February, as much a showcase for the capabilities of the device as it was a money-spinner. Figures released recently showed The Daily had lost $US10 million in the first quarter of this year, while Mr Murdoch was quoted the day before its launch saying it would cost $US500,000 a week to run.
The costs on Fairfax's soon-to-be-released apps for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald are likely to be considerably lower than that, but the ambitions are just as high.
''The iPad as a product is very exciting,'' said Jack Matthews, head of Fairfax's metropolitan media division.
''But more importantly, it's a catalyst for change. You can't charge on one platform for content that you give away for free on another.''
Creating a compelling product is one thing, but shifting consumer behaviour is another, and the great challenge facing media companies will be convincing them to pay.

The Daily has reportedly been downloaded more than 800,000 times since launch, but many of those usages have been on free trial packages.
''Consumers have had 10 years' experience of getting free news on their web browsers,'' said Mr Fadaghi.
''Getting past that is a huge task. Media companies will need to offer something else, to focus on the functionality and features of the devices.''
That might include using GPS to target readers with localised advertising, he said, or it might involve charging readers a premium to opt out of advertising entirely.
''Is the tablet journalism's saviour? It's far too early to think like that,'' said Age editor-in-chief Paul Ramadge. ''Some readers like print. Others like portable devices. That said, our forthcoming app is very exciting - an enticing window into the future and its possibilities.''