Will media experts find the key to guaranteed e-reader and tablet success?

The huge interest in the potential of tablet computers and mobile e-reading devices for news distribution was evident in the turnout at this year’s World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers International (WAN-IFRA) e-Reading and Tablets conference.

Compared with last year’s event, three times as many media professionals from across the globe gathered in Hamburg last week to discuss the best way to turn the potential of these devices into success.

Topics of discussion included the broad differences between e-readers and tablet computers (‘fun’ versus ‘black and white’) and their markets; the predicted variations in consumer behaviour across different markets; and the appeal to advertisers as these devices continue to evolve.

The potential of the iPad has of course been the focus of much media interest since its release, and USA Today has seen more than 900,000 people download its free iPad app.  But Gannett, publishers of USA Today, has also had success with its paid-for content for Amazon’s Kindle device, according to Craig McKinnis of Gannett digital ventures.

Kristina Sabelström Möller, senior research manager for Emerging Digital Platforms and Business Development at WAN IFRA,  continued the case for e-reading devices, and their “complete ecosystem” of products and target groups.

Normally unwilling to pay for online news, consumers are more willing to do so on mobile e-reading devices, although there is a wide variety in accepted subscription prices across markets, according to WAN-IFRA. While recent discussions surrounding the Times paywall shows that the public is largely unwilling to pay for online news, this seems to change when it comes to mobile e-reading devices.

Forrester Research reports that in the US, readers would pay one third of the print subscription price for a newspaper to view content online.  In contrast, readers pay close to 70% for a 30-day subscription to The Sun on the iPad,  according to Darren Goldsby, director of digital solutions at News International.

As such, many speakers at the conference felt the importance of offering attractive, quality content alongside a convenient way to pay for it, could not be overstated.

Nick Thomas, a consumer product strategy analyst at Forrester Research, said that though “demand for tablet PCs will be broader and faster-growing than e-readers… e-readers have a future as a single-function device for reading e-books, magazines and newspapers”.

Yesterday, Unilever CMO Keith Weed also added his views, saying tablets like the iPad will prove to be the saviour of the newspaper industry – something which News Corp’s Rupert Murdoch has been saying for some time.