Large publishers like Time Inc, Conde Nast and Bonnier have made significant investments in special editions of their publications designed for the Apple iPad and other mobile platforms.
The Associated Press (AP) even went as far as to create a whole separate division, AP Gateway, for its iPad and other mobile media.
For smaller publishers, however, dedicating a team of people to an unproven medium is likely not an option, especially when most small publishers still have understaffed online production teams.
So, are we doomed to have the big publishers run away with the iPad, leaving the smaller publisher in the dust? How will hyperlocal sites, small print circulation magazines and community newspapers adopt the new platform?
This problem isn’t unique to the iPad. There will be more platforms. Increasing amounts of specialization in distribution, so what’s the little guy to do?
Team up.
Small publishers should begin banding together to share a common development team across a dozen titles, much like the AP was born out of newspapers sharing copy amongst one another.
Many sites are banding together to form an advertising network, why not use the same approach with emerging platforms? Instead of hiring a sales team, hire developers. Both conglomerations can drive revenue and allow small publishers to share best practices.
A (very, very) basic outline:
Step One: Publishers band together based on common interest. For example, local Web sites likely have similar interests in the functionality of their iPad and mobile applications.
Step Two: The publishers come to agreement on a list of common feature sets and what they envision an app looking like.
Step Three: Each publisher contributes a fraction of the total cost to hire a centralized development team (or just one developer) to maintain and focus exclusively on developing platforms with an emphasis on the Apple SDK.
The publishers could then sell a white label version of their new platform to late comers or to local businesses. Meanwhile, the confederation of publishers helps diffuse the risk of an unknown distribution model while still allowing publishers to stay in step with the big guys.
Though, they'd better hurry. April 3rd is fast approaching.
Comments
Let's do it!
I'm not even convinced it needs to cost anything up front. Any publishers interested in creating a joint venture around epublishers (specifically the iPad) please join me at http://joeboydston.com.
We have the technical expertise, that's the easy part. What we need are creative ideas and publishers who are dedicated to pursuing this technology.
Newspaper Industry: Please... Don't let another opportunity pass us by. Technology and innovation does not need to be expensive, often it only takes vision, creativity and ACTION!