The Australian: iPad yet to take off as news reader

In April News Limited boss Rupert Murdoch said Apple’s iPad could be the newspaper industry’s saviour.

The tablets have decent high-resolution screens which make them great reading devices. Digital news delivery through a secure and commercially-oriented channel helps publishers make money selling news, this works better than serving news free with advertising.

When iPad launched in Australia, Murdoch’s flagship newspaper The Australian gave it a huge amount of positive coverage. At times the stories read more like promotional material than hard news. Murdoch’s words praising the iPad were everywhere.

Australian iPad sales peak

Earlier this week the front page of the paper’s technology section, Australian IT carried a report by Andrew Colley. He says Australian iPad sales hit 250,000.

That makes the tablet a rip-roaring success. But he goes on to say the iPad has yet to take off as a mass news medium. Colley quotes Telsyte director Foad Fadaghi who said consumers do not see tablet screens as attractive alternatives to TVs, computer screens or newspapers.

He said: “Having a mobile tablet device did not lead to massive substitution of news, sport and weather from content from any other sources — be that online, TV or newspapers”.