Telegraph Media Group’s its iPad edition went live Tuesday morning.
Note that, like The Times’ app, The Daily Telegraph app is allied with its daily newspaper rather than its Telegraph.co.uk website. Forget about rolling news – this is delivered in single daily “editions” at 5am each morning (including Sunday), and also includes “the best of” the newspapers’ content, suggesting it’s not the whole thing.
We are really beginning to see how some publishers are regarding tablets as a logical extension of print (a medium which they are already charging for) and not of the web (where monetisation efforts are still relatively hard-going).
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The model? TMG says its app is: “Delivered free, for a limited period in partnership with Audi.” The carmaker’s display ads appear every few pages.
It’s the same kind of approach with which The Financial Times debuted on iPad – a single, big sponsorship deal.
We understand this deal will run for three months, after which TMG will review the iPad business model. It’s thought decision makers remain open to a payment model, though no conclusion has yet been reached.
In any case, a new version of the app is already under development, so any new model – payment or otherwise – could come along with the version two.