According to reports this week both are planning iPhone apps which will make their content available to mobile users on a pay-as-you go basis.
The Spectator will be the first out the traps with a "miniaturised, page-turning, iPhone version of the real thing". It will cost 59 pence on an issue-by-issue basis, or £2.39 a month.
paidContent.org, meanwhile, reports that the company that owns it, Guardian News & Media, has a content app of its own "in the pipeline".
The details are sketchy but the Guardian's digital director Emily Bell was quoted saying:
It’s still in development, but we are working on an app which I can’t give you too much more detail on at the moment, although we are likely to charge.
Micro and one-off payments have always been more likely to succeed on mobile phones where you're just a click away from adding a few pence to your operator bill.
That ease of use doesn't guarantee success, of course, and doesn't get us much closer to a paid solution for the far wider, non-mobile web.
Related:
- Why Moleskine Is The Model For Newspaper Survival
- Scarcity, Abundance And The Misapprehension Of Online Advertising
- Poll Shocker: Newspaper Readers Still Not Willing To Pay Online
Jon Bernstein is a freelance writer and digital media consultant. He is the former multimedia editor for Channel 4 News, editor-in-chief of Directgov and editor-in-chief of silicon.com.
He also blogs at jonbernstein.wordpress.com
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