Tablets: Media Outlets Ponder Options as Free Web Editions Compete with Paid Subscriptions

My hunch is that the publishers of The Economist know whereof they speak:

... The [iPad] contains a web browser as well as an app store, bringing together the world of paid content and the open web, where print content tends to be free. It is as though a news-stand carried two versions of every magazine—one costly, the other inferior but free. Media firms that were already coming to believe that the web is a mediocre advertising platform have drawn a stark conclusion: they should pull back from the free web.

Time magazine has begun to hold back some stories from its website, on the ground that it is now providing a decent digital alternative. Time Inc is moving towards all-access pricing, in which content is available on all platforms to people who pay for it. This is in line with the “TV Everywhere” plan developed by Jeff Bewkes, Time Warner’s chief executive. Others are likely to follow. James Moroney, publisher of the Dallas Morning News, says the release of a paid iPad application later this year is likely to coincide with the erection of a paywall on the Dallas.com website. It is illogical to charge for one but not the other, he says.

Yet obstacles lie in the path of media firms that want to move in this direction. The first is that many print publications do not have enough information about their customers to enable them to sell across platforms. Ken Doctor, a media analyst at Outsell, points out that American newspapers tend to sort their readers by address rather than by name. The second obstacle is Apple. The firm has made it difficult to sell subscriptions on the iPad, and is reluctant to disclose much data on buyers. This is a particular problem for magazine firms, which use customer data to push other products and to sell advertising. ...