Gawker’s “Valleywag” section reports on an intriguing development in the world of iPad newspaper applications.
When the iPad launched, one of the first applications to be spotlighted was an early version of the New York Times iPad app. Jobs had a Times executive come up on stage and demonstrate it.
But almost nobody is happy about the final version of the app that the New York Times ended up producing—“NYT Editors’ Choice”, which leaves out much of the paper’s content, including content available free on-line. One of those unhappy people, Gawker says, has been Steve Jobs, “and his displeasure has been made known to senior Times Company executives, according to a source close to the paper.”
The reasons behind the lack of a full-content iPad app are fairly complicated. Part of it has to do with the Times’s agreement with Amazon, which apparently has the same “most favored nation” status Amazon puts in its e-book contracts—the Times can’t release a cheaper version for another tablet.
Also, there is disagreement between the paper’s departments as to whether an iPad version should be expensive (so as not to “cannibalize” print sales) or cheap (so more people would buy it).
It’s a pity that one of the most anticipated apps for the iPad turned out so poorly, but it does serve to illustrate how complicated digital publication of newspapers can be.
Well, that explains a great deal. I had been looking for the full New York Times application or subscription without luck since buying the iPad. I had subscribed to the paper on my Kindle DX since last summer and found it to be a good value. It was very, very nice to have the newspaper on the device waiting for me. I’d just pick it up, go to breakfast, and flip through it. Having full content, full-length articles, and all the editorial pieces (including my new favorite Gail Colins) was worth the $14 a month. I mean! That’s 50 cents a day… less than my breakfast sandwich, than a diet Coke used to wash it down!
I received a note from Amazon and the NYT that they were going to test the waters at $20 a month. OK. That is still under a dollar a day. And, though I’m sure it will generate controversy by saying it, not a bad deal for a national paper of record. I’ve got my new shiny iPad. Where do I sign up?
I sold my Kindle DX and my Kindle 2. The Kindle application on the iPad, while lacking a couple of features (like the dictionary) seems quite nice. But, I can’t get subscriptions on it. So, I cancelled the Amazon NYT subscription and now I have nothing. And, more to the point, the NYT is not getting $14 or $20 from me each month, either. We are both getting nothing everyday this fiasco languishes.
I know it is the same story: electronic media consumer stands with money-in-hand while publisher waffles-and-fusses. But, given the tremendous bump Apple gave to the NYT in its iPad launch the whole thing looks somehow (almost impossibly) even more pathetic than the ongoing eBook mess.
Seriously. This isn’t complicated. I would like to buy a subscription to my morning paper–just like the one I used to have on the other device. How much and when can you start delivering it? Stop making this complicated! Please. Take the money. Give me my newspaper. See, wasn’t that easy? {sigh}