Conclusions from the Oxford tablet summit

iPad, and other tablets are expected to be the saviors for publishers and their content. This is not an advertisement but the most important conclusion from INMA’s and INNOVATION’s Oxford Tablet Seminar that took place on May 18th in Oxford, UK. Read more to learn the major findings from the one day’s session dedicated to tablets and newspaper content.

Tablets are not a replacement for newspapers. Paper will stay, but its business model and content proposition has to change. Newsmedia companies have to focus on the SOUL of their products, what stands for: sensuality, omnipresence, uniqueness and lightness. In order to do so, tablets have to be included in their strategy.

iPads are a great chance for newspapers, since they give newsmedia publishers the possibility to charge for their content since day one.  But they are a great change in the media game, and they enforce the newsrooms should change their workflows. App developers are the employers who will be mostly needed in the tablet era.

Publishers should think about the new way of storytelling. Content is king, but words are only a part of it. Eye-catching, interactive infographics could be tablet applications themselves. Newsmedia companies should plan how many target groups can they reach and dedicate their applications to those groups specifically, instead of trying to reach the largest group possible with one app only.

If you are curious what an application should look like, read about apps from the designer’s point of view. Application is neither a newspaper or a magazine. Designers should think about templates, personalization, technology, and the right flow of the information. Bearing that in mind make sure you learn the nine key concepts of publishers’ existance on iPad.

Some of the speakers called iPad the new frontier for newsmedia companies. Publishers admit that their biggest mistake of all time was to offer their content online for free. While it is barely impossible to change that now, after 15 years, with the new frontier content on the new platform may be charged for from the very beginning.

The importance of content on tablets was stressed out in every speech, but one of the speakers looked at iPad as the world’s biggest distraction. It allows the users experience much more with their readings, but is at the same time a device you can watch, play games or listen. The other activities may be a bit disruptive but even that can be fought by the strong content.

Thinking about their tablet strategies, the publishers must think about a coherent pricing strategy. Readers should be let to decide what they want to pay for, and publishers should watch that closely and learn from it. Another interesting issue is advertising on tablets. While readers on the web are more and more ad-reluctant, tablets allow ads become a content again, just as in newspapers.

In quick brainsnacks, five extremely interesting presentations were shown. Read them to learn the key points on how to succeed with tablets or get some thoughtful ideas about the existance on the tablet platform.

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