Jon Simpson

Turf War at the New York Times: Who Will Control the iPad?

18 Feb 2010

You have print circulation, which thinks it should control the iPad since it’s just another way to distribute the paper. They’d like to charge $20 to $30 per month for the Times’ forthcoming iPad app … On the other side, you have the Times’ digital operation, which is pushing to charge $10 per month

The iPad has basically handed papers and magazines an opportunity to create paid distribution channels for their content. I’d been expecting a ‘Magazine Store’ from Apple along with the iBooks store, with them adding print as another media to collect 30% distribution on. Given this kind of situation at the NYT it seems like the papers might be willing to strangle the golden goose to support their existing distribution model …


 Home