Guardian iPad edition launches
The Guardian on iPad edition has arrived offering a once-a-day digital download of the print edition of the paper
The Guardian has launched its iPad edition. Photograph: Graham Turner/Guardian
The Guardian has launched its first full iPad app, a once-a-day download of the print edition of the newspaper, priced at £9.99 a month after an initial three-month free-trial period passes.
The regular fee is one of the first times that the Guardian has introduced a monthly charge for a digital service, following on from the July launch of the £9.99 a month Kindle app, which has thousands of subscribers.
Alan Rusbridger, the editor-in-chief of the Guardian, said that the iPad was aimed at readers who liked the daily printed newspaper, with similarities in design and pricing to match.
"We wanted it to be like a newspaper, in that it is very respectful of text. It has a hierarchy, like a newspaper front page, and you don't get lost in it unlike some other iPad apps," Rusbridger said.
The pricing will match the £9.99 a month already charged by the Times for its iPad edition, which has been available since the iPad first launched in May 2010. The Telegraph launched a paid-for iPad app in May of this year, also priced at £9.99 a month.
Rusbridger conceded that "it did take too long" to release the app, and said that the delay, relative to rivals, was partly due to a shortage of appropriate developers, and an initial decision to try and produce a design more sophisticated than "a PDF version of the newspaper".
The app will download automatically in the small hours, while readers interested in real-time content will have the option of clicking through to the free website. Future releases of the app are expected to include a real-time element contained with it, the editor indicated.
On pricing, Rusbridger said that the newspaper's plan was to "charge what the market will bear in each media". The Guardian's iPhone app costs £4.99 a year, while the cover price of the newspaper was recently increased by 20p to £1.20 on Monday to Friday and £2.10 on Saturdays.
However, Rusbridger indicated that there was little prospect of adopting a paywall for the newspaper's websites, which are the second most viewed of all British newspapers after the Daily Mail's Mail Online. The Guardian has been strongly supportive of the free model on the internet, although the editor did say that the New York Times's model of the "leaky paywall", which allows readers to view 20 articles before being asked to pay was "interesting" before adding "that doesn't mean we will follow it".
The editor predicted that "tens of thousands" of people would subscribe to the app in due course. About 20% of the Guardian and the Observer's revenues come from digital activities.
Available on Newsstand, part of the iOS version of the App Store. It will be sponsored by Channel 4 for the first three months. Guardian subscribers will get access to the app for free as part of their subscription, once the charging period begins.
The regular fee is one of the first times that the Guardian has introduced a monthly charge for a digital service, following on from the July launch of the £9.99 a month Kindle app, which has thousands of subscribers.
Alan Rusbridger, the editor-in-chief of the Guardian, said that the iPad was aimed at readers who liked the daily printed newspaper, with similarities in design and pricing to match.
"We wanted it to be like a newspaper, in that it is very respectful of text. It has a hierarchy, like a newspaper front page, and you don't get lost in it unlike some other iPad apps," Rusbridger said.
The pricing will match the £9.99 a month already charged by the Times for its iPad edition, which has been available since the iPad first launched in May 2010. The Telegraph launched a paid-for iPad app in May of this year, also priced at £9.99 a month.
Rusbridger conceded that "it did take too long" to release the app, and said that the delay, relative to rivals, was partly due to a shortage of appropriate developers, and an initial decision to try and produce a design more sophisticated than "a PDF version of the newspaper".
The app will download automatically in the small hours, while readers interested in real-time content will have the option of clicking through to the free website. Future releases of the app are expected to include a real-time element contained with it, the editor indicated.
On pricing, Rusbridger said that the newspaper's plan was to "charge what the market will bear in each media". The Guardian's iPhone app costs £4.99 a year, while the cover price of the newspaper was recently increased by 20p to £1.20 on Monday to Friday and £2.10 on Saturdays.
However, Rusbridger indicated that there was little prospect of adopting a paywall for the newspaper's websites, which are the second most viewed of all British newspapers after the Daily Mail's Mail Online. The Guardian has been strongly supportive of the free model on the internet, although the editor did say that the New York Times's model of the "leaky paywall", which allows readers to view 20 articles before being asked to pay was "interesting" before adding "that doesn't mean we will follow it".
The editor predicted that "tens of thousands" of people would subscribe to the app in due course. About 20% of the Guardian and the Observer's revenues come from digital activities.
Available on Newsstand, part of the iOS version of the App Store. It will be sponsored by Channel 4 for the first three months. Guardian subscribers will get access to the app for free as part of their subscription, once the charging period begins.
change my life
October 19, 2011 at 11:44 AM
good information....
mang deni
October 19, 2011 at 5:05 PM
thanks