Submitted by eacastel on Tue, 02/16/2010 - 08:46
Tablets are illuminating the troubled path of the print publishing business by promising to create new ways of monetizing the publication's digital efforts.
Magazines the likes of Sports Illustrated and Wired have been looking to the iPad and other similar devices to help them re-capture their subscriber base and re-generate their business through new revenue streams. This move would allow them to once again become the "middleman" between the advertiser and the consumer through the production of multimedia content.
The possibilities of the tablet delivering profitability certainly exist but we do not know how long it will take for readers to adopt the new platform en masse or if they will be willing to pay for delivery of this multimedia content. How subscriptions and tablets are marketed will define these questions. There is a definite "coolness" factor involved and if the right price is set for each publication issue, adoption can be as fast as technology companies roll-out new devices.
