Tablet Trends

Ever since the release of the iPad, newspapers, magazines and other publications have been pumping out apps and redesigning content and advertising options for the new type of digital content.

But are people reading them? And more importantly, are people buying them?

The Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism in collaboration with The Economist Group has recently released a study that analyses how people are using their iPad and what they are using them for.

The Good:
- 11 percent of adults in the U.S. own an tablet
- 77 percent of these owners use their tablets everyday
- Consuming news is the most popular activities on the tablet
- three in ten users (of the 77 percent daily users) read more news say they read more news than they did before purchasing the iPad
- 42 percent of the daily users say they regularly read in-depth news articles and analysis on their tablets

The Bad:
- Close to a third of daily users have paid directly or indirectly for news content
- 40 percent of the news users go to the web browser on their tablets instead of using an app
- less than 20% go directly to apps

The Ugly:
- 21 percent of the people who have not paid directly for apps said they would be willing to pay $5 a month for certain publications if that was the only way to receive content
- 83 of the people who use apps for their news said that free or low cost was a factor in their decision to download an app

Even though people are reluctant to pay for apps, the high use of tablets as a news source is promising.

Professor Hollander, associate professor of journalism at The University of Georgia believes that newspaper companies mad the mistake by giving away news content for free. Hollander said that when people pay for an app they feel psychologically obligated to use it. Also, charging, even a small amount, is what begins to push the consumer into a different mindset. A mindset that is willing to pay for news instead of relying on free sites.

The fact that people are using the tablet as a news source is promising. If companies can find a way to change the mindset of the consumer to pay for news, it can be a new source of revenue. It won't make up for the lost advertising dollars or solve all of the industries problems but it could be a start.