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Apple announced this morning that those who pre-ordered their 3G iPads will receive them on Friday, April 30. The iPads will also be available in Apple stores.
The 3G iPads, which also comes in 16GB, 32GB and 64GB models, will cost $629, $729 and $829 respectively. The 3G models do not require data contacts as Apple has negotiated pay-as-you-go pricing.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Apple announces that 3G iPads available April 30
Glasshouse Apps has number one paid news app in iTunes; media companies conspicuous by their absence
You could see this coming a mile away: the number one paid news app for the iPad isn't an app from a media company but from a developer that aggregates news and puts in an attractive format.
The Early Edition, an app from Glasshouse Apps, currently has the number one paid news app in iTunes for the iPad.
"I had to pinch myself this morning when I woke up and saw that The Early Edition had become the number 1 iPad app in the News category on the App Store," the Glasshouse Apps blog exclaims. "We’ve had such an incredible response from customers and we’d like to thank each and every one of them for shelling out and buying our app."
Glasshouse Apps has two other apps in iTunes: Barista and Cellar -- all priced at $4.99. The gold rush is truly on.
iPad users, hungry for media (after all, this device was sold as a media consumption device) are grasping for anything that will allow them to read their newspapers and magazines. As a result, companies like Zinio, who have done an excellent job developing and promoting their offerings are being rewarded by iPad users.
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Monday, April 19, 2010
Pixel Mags brings the Pottery Barn catalog to the IPad; app development as a form of custom publishing
Pixel Mags is already a major vendor for magazine publishers who want to bring their magazines to the smart phones or the iPad, with over 100 apps in the iTunes store. Now the company has become a kind of custom publisher by bringing the family of Pottery Barn catalogs to the iPad.
An app for a major cataloger is both brilliant and logical. The iPad will be used by many owners as a leisure reading tool -- and browsing catalogs is certainly a leisure time activity for many.
Unfortunately, it doesn't appear that Pixel Mags tested their app because it is an absolute mess. Pages stutter across the screen, it is impossible to flip from one page to another. In short, this app is a disaster and is in desperate need of updating.
(Pixel Mags should be applauded for securing the deal with Pottery Barn. I always found that working with Williams-Sonoma was . . . well, not easy. So it is a bit strange that the company would have allowed an app to go out with their name on it that works so poorly. Too bad, I'd love to get my Williams-Sonoma catalog on my iPad -- but not like this.)
There is no need to embarrass Pottery Barn or Pixel Mags more by showing screenshots on the home page, but if you are interested, there are a few screen captures after the jump. When, or if, Pixel Mags fixes and enhances this app I will be happy to provide an update.
But there are more problems with this app beyond the programming -- believe it or not. It starts right on the opening image. In the lower right hand corner of the app is an ugly Pixel Mag logo. Why is it that companies that do this kind of work for customers feel they have the right to brand themselves? I am quite sure the people at Pottery Barn or their agency spent a lot time designing their catalog (or in this case, the splash page) -- without someone else's logo, I am quite sure.
From the perspective of a publisher, what is Pixel Mags doing for Pottery Barn? In a way, isn't this custom publishing?
In traditional custom publishing situations, a company works with an established publisher because the publisher has a printer contract, production capability, content resources, etc. In tablet publishing, however, who owns all these capabilities? The developer.
Reed presents B2B media industry a chance for fresh start; can a real New Media company rise from the ashes?
When a company like Reed Business Information decides to close some titles there are usually two ways the titles are resurrected: either the former staff finds some financial backing to buy up the assets and try to keep their titles alive, or a competitor swoops in to pick off the remains.
A third way, however, is my hope: that a new company might arise from the ashes to take advantage of this opportunity. The third way would be for a new company to take these titles, their good brand names and customer loyalty, and create a New Media company that is less focused on the profitability of an individual print product, but on delivering B2B news and information using all the forms at the disposal of publishers today. In other words, a true cross platform publishing company that delivers content using print, web, mobile, tablet, and e-mail formats -- as well as other electronic formats now open to publishers (like e-books sold through Amazon and Apple, for instance).
In the late nineties there were investment firms that were created to make these kinds of investments. Sadly, the firms investing in B2B media this past decade have been private equity companies who believed they knew how to wring out profits from properties they felt were bloated. Who needs one publisher per magazine when a publisher can handle multiple titles? Who needs publishers at all? (In my last position my name appeared on nine titles as either publisher or group publisher -- how crazy is that?) I can not imagine a PE, or traditional NYC based investment firm stepping up to take advantage of this situation.
What is needed, if I can sound biased, is a West Coast firm -- one used to investing in tech. A newly created company, one backed by an investment firm with contacts in the software industry is precisely what is needed now. The first B2B who can create its own apps, can sell e-books for the Kindle and iPad, who understands that its readers not only want content in different formats, but wants different content for those devices, will have the field to themselves.
(Disclosure: I was a group publisher at RBI for a short while, but not at any of the 23 magazines being shuttered. I did compete with several of the books, though, while at McGraw-Hill and SGC, and have kept close tabs on many of the others including the restaurant and lodging magazines because of a distant competitive situation.)
AP Stylebook gets an update: from 'Web site' to 'website'
According to the AP Stylebook, the correct term was "Web site". But that made no sense to me so this site has always used "web site", unless written differently in a quote. But now the AP Stylebook has been updated and "website" it is. Vive la différence.
Hearst close to deal to acquire iCrossing
Newspaper and magazine publishing company Hearst Corp. is close to acquiring digital marketing company iCrossing. The Wall Street Journal reports the asking price would be around $375 million.
"While going through the process of evaluating iCrossing's position in the market, we have spoken with, and entered into, non-disclosure agreements with many companies," iCrossing's spokesperson Dana Mellecker told Reuters.
Reuters speculates that the acquisition would be an attempt to grow its Internet advertising base. This is unlikely as any digital marketing firm that funneled advertising to its parent so transparently would lose all credibility. Rather this appears to be a strategic move to add properties where Hearst anticipates growth, as well as it have in-house digital marketing expertise -- both good reasons to close the deal.
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