Comments on: SA gets first iPad-only newspaper

By: Jason

Jason — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 13:38:00 +0000

I think it’s a novel approach to monetizing their content but there are some serious risks here.

1. Andrew, you haven’t factored in the number of subscribers who
will stop paying somewhere along the line. Whether it’s no funds
available or the person move or gets a new credit card and never
updates their info, anything offered on credit needs a lot of thought
around the numbers behind recovering bad debts and writing bad debts
off.

2. Who are these 20,000 people? If they’re he affluent forward
thinkers The Daily Maverick is targeting here, wouldn’t they already
have an iPad? And if not, maybe they don’t want one. And if they do
want one, they can afford to buy one at R6k cash/card, not R9k over two
years via subscription. And if only 1600 foward thinking switched on
types ‘like’ Daily Maverick’s Facebook page, where are these other
19,000 people?

3. What happens if only 4 people sign up by the time the first issue
comes out in August? Is there sufficient funding to make this a
sustainable venture? Because increased content costs run monthly
whether there are 18 subscribers or 18,000.

It can work but it’s not going to be an overnight profit and
investors need to have deep enough pockets to outlast the risks. Though
depending on the saturation point, it may just not add up the way you
have it above.

By: Ryk

Ryk — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 08:27:49 +0000

Good luck Branko. I think the iPad 2 bundle is an excellent idea.

By: Anzhu

Anzhu — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 07:28:49 +0000

I have an iPad2 and I love the Daily Maverick. But to be honest there is already more content on the site than I can consume on a daily basis, so I am not sure I would be prepared to pay a monthly fee to get more than I have time to read.

It would be great to get the site in an app format (I love the Pulse, News24, Flipboard, NY Times etc. apps), but if I have to pay I will probably just use Safari on the iPad to view the free site. I suppose it all depends on the price. If Greg’s calculations are correct it sounds like it is going to be expensive.

But then I suppose that one cannot expect quality content for free for ever.

By: Dave

Dave — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 07:18:19 +0000

@Greg It seems I misread it a bit but I agree it still looks a little high.
I have an Ipad 2 and my wife has an iPad 1 so we are sorted. I wonder what the annual subscription is w/o the iPad?

I do have some questions for them which I will write to them about
a) In a multiple iPad family can one download a copy to each iPad? (assuming they both use the same AppleID) I asume so. I can do it for the other Apple stuff we download.

Practically a couple shares the morning newspaper

b) A bigger one for me is the download available time. 7:30 is too late for many people like me with our routines. Up early, get kids ready. Breakfast with the newspaper.

With iOS 5 of course the download can be automatic

I will address my questions directly to them but of course they are free to answer here

By: Greg

Greg — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 06:36:03 +0000

The “bundled” iPad2 is R4399. Divide that by 24, and it’s R183/mo. That means if you’re paying R395 for iPad2+iMaverick, it’s R212/month for the newspaper subs. The Daily is $4/month, around R25. Either it’s too early for my brain to work, and my maths is wrong, or that is just silly pricing. Assuming the bundled iMaverick is discounted, we’re looking at R250+ for the standalone version!

They state it’ll appeal to the “top end of the market” – surely these guys don’t need the overpriced financed iPad2? If you can’t scratch together R4399, you’re not in the top end of the market.

By: Jack

Jack — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 06:32:29 +0000

Brave move Branko, and the right direction as well, but I fear the costs are too steep…even coming bundled. There are simply too many news sites on the NET where every conceivable tit bit of news, worthy of being read, covering the whole planet, can be found and in many instances, for free.
News, it seems, can be a huge draw card for other paid services / products…hmmm …is that light coming on yet?

By: Dave

Dave — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 00:35:40 +0000

First up let me say I am a fan of newspaper and magazine apps. I read the British Daily Telegraph and Times regulary and marvel at the quaulity of the features journalism often missing in SA.

I would love to get my SA newspapers I read on the iPad (Cape Times, M&G and Sunday Times)

Good luck to these guys but it’s unlikely I will spend this much when I can get BusinessWeek and brritish and US newspapers for so much less)

Th US based The Daily is not doing well but I suspect that it is just not up to scratch