Print media finds new life in mobile apps

By Angela Penny
The Guardsman

IPad applications could bring big money to print publishers “Wired Magazine” Editor-in-Chief Chris Anderson explained in his keynote speech for >Play, a Digital Media Conference that was held at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business.

“IPad applications are a complete package, not 400 individual articles or a website that you can navigate anyway you want. It’s more like a Hollywood film,” Anderson said.

“Wired Magazine,” which is owned by Conde Nast, launched it’s first iPad application in June.

The first month, 110,000 users bought the app for $4.99. The application also includes high-priced advertising which is more effective than website banner ads.

Since its release, the application has sold about 30,000 units each month. It is the number one magazine application currently available at the iTunes store.

Currently there is no subscription model. Conde Nast is still experimenting with pricing models but this could be a boon to publishers who are struggling to make money with their websites, and coping with the high cost of printing.

As opposed to websites which average less than three minutes per page view, purchasers of the iPad application spend more than an hour with the product. It is also the first medium which is completely measurable, according to Anderson.

Instead of tiny banner ads along the top and sides of a web page “where people have learned not to look,” users can have a rich, immersive experience with the advertisements, he said. They can take a simulated test drive of a car or visit a tropical vacation spot.

The application also solves a fundamental problem with web advertising. On the web advertisers want readers to click on their banners and go to a different website. Ads within iPad applications are contained within the experience so users don’t leave.

In an August issue of “Wired Magazine,” Anderson and Michael Woolf wrote a much publicized cover article about how “the web is dead” and how mobile, interactive applications were taking over.

“We are in the process of switching from static to interactive experiences,” Anderson said. “This is being driven by the migration to mobile and the rapidly developing mobile technology.”

The web has medium restrictions that mobile applications do not according to Anderson. One thing that the web medium lacks which is available in both print and mobile, is a cohesive presentation.

“A magazine is an experience,” he said. “You read it in a certain order; it’s all contained in one package. The usability and design strategies for magazines have been evolving over more than 100 years.”

“Half of my magazine staff is designers,” Anderson said. “Very, very little of their work makes it on to the website.”

Anderson divided the way people consume their media into two main categories: “lean forward” and “lean back.”

“Lean forward mediums require the user to actively work to receive the information. You need to use a keyboard, it’s an additive experience, and it’s free,” he said.

In contrast, a lean back experience lets you use your fingers, it’s more like play than work. There are average engagement times of over 40 minutes, and people pay for the experience.

Students were sitting on the steps in the aisles and standing against the walls, hanging on every word he said. The event was sponsored by members of the Berkeley Digital Media & Entertainment Club.

Anderson has a bachelor’s degree in physics from George Washington University and has studied quantum mechanics and science journalism at the UC Berkeley.

He is the author of the New York Times bestsellers “The Long Tail” and “FREE: The Future of Radical Price,” both of which are based on influential articles published in “Wired.”