Philly newspapers offer Androids with paid apps

Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA

The city’s two major newspapers announced Monday that they will give free Android tablet computers to paid digital subscribers as part of a new venture designed to shore up readership and revenue nearly a year after the publications emerged from bankruptcy.

The pilot project slated for launch in late August will provide about 2,000 tablets to customers who buy long-term subscriptions to The Philadelphia Inquirer or Philadelphia Daily News, according to publisher Greg Osberg.

It’s the first time a major U.S. media company will bundle its content with a device, said Osberg, who also is the CEO of Philadelphia Media Network, which owns the papers and their joint website, philly.com.

“Somebody needed to step forward and stimulate this market,” Osberg said. “There’s going to be a tablet explosion in terms of consumer adoption, and we wanted to be out in front and learn as much as we can as early as we can.”

The initiative comes amid widespread declines in the newspaper industry, which for years has battled decreasing advertising and subscription revenue as readers consume more information online.

Industry watchers were intrigued but skeptical. Bill Grueskin, dean of academic affairs at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, wondered how loyal subscribers would be after being given a device with access to every news source in the world.

“That’s not to say that it’s a terrible idea. It’s an untested one,” said Grueskin, lead author of a May report titled “The Story So Far: What We Know About the Business of Digital Journalism.”

Osberg, a former Newsweek executive, has been pledging online innovations since taking the helm of the papers and website last fall. On Monday, he said the “Project Liberty” initiative would turn “a local media company into a local digital media company,” though his analog news conference had no demonstrations of the apps, device or content.

Tablets would be given to those who buy the company’s four news apps: two that offer replicas of the papers’ print editions, one with additional Inquirer content, and one for philly.com.