How can an iPhone App be a new source of revenue for newspapers

Now that people can subscribe to material on their iPhones, newspaper industry has strong reasons to want iPhone apps: a newspaper on iPhones is more accessible/user customizable than its web counterparts; it is available to readers even when they are not near an internet source; it is handier and greener than paper based subscriptions; and, it can utilize all the three media- audio, video and print- to present news/stories.

iPhone newspapers might also be able to save the diminishing newspaper advertising. Today, people consider building websites a better investment than small newspaper ads that costs a lot and only to appear at the back of a newspaper for short time. A website, on the other hand, for a nominal yearly price, can simulate a virtual showroom where business owners can not only showcase their products/services, reach a wider audience irrespective of where they are, but, can also hold e-commerce transactions.
While the above fact is true- it’s not as simple as it sounds.

The only way for someone to find a product or service on the internet is through search engines and to show up on these search engines is by making a website more search engine friendly. The are two factors that make SEO a dodgy process are, first, SEO experts prefer to get you visibility within local listings since it’s easier and more feasible; second, SEO has its own weight- you have to hire a specialist, wait for at least 6 months before it starts showing results and sometimes, you might not even get a single customer but a lot of traffic of surfers. It’s still low cost though.

On the other hand, local newspaper advertising is, although a bit expensive, more directed; it is also the faster way to get to the local audience. If someone is looking for a plumbing company in New Jersey, it’s easier to appear in a local New Jersey newspaper, where people are sure to find you in the advertisement section, than to compete with 100s of other plumbing companies for showing up on the first page of search engine results.

iPhone newspapers can combine the good aspects of both the media- local visibility, without having to resort to search engine enhancements, of newspaper advertising, and, low cost multimedia advertising on the web.

Having iPhone newspapers was definitely a smart move; but, ads along with the newspaper will be a win-win situation for all the three- newspaper industry, advertisers and the readers.

Another way in which iPhones can be a great help to newspapers is by utilizing the high quality video and still camera that comes with the latest 3.0 iPhone; journalists can capture, record news /videos on the spot and report right then and there. A journalist-friendly editor that can combine video, images and written content is all that is needed.