Mobile News

Do you check your email and social networks in the morning? Well, it looks like many of us check to find out what happened while you were sleeping. Except for we're not tucking into a newspaper with our coffee, we're scrolling down a Twitter or a Facebook app. 

Could this be why news organizations have developed iPhone apps? I ran a search for news applications at the iTunes News Apps for iPhone and stopped counting at 3,240.

Back in the day when I worked in the ag industry, I learned that farmers are now so sophisticated when it comes to technology, that they could run circles around me. Today, they can do it while getting the weather forecast delivered to them while on the go - through their mobile phone.

I use NPR News, NYTimes, and BBC News, and am planning to expand my selection. I love convenience and no matter how small laptops become, my iPhone is always with me. Now don't get any ideas, though. Read on to find out why.

Mashable wrote up a nice review of the NPR News app this summer. If you're curious about app features and usability, Jonathan Stray provides a comparison of some iPhone news apps. There are companies that put together private label news apps, too. Gizmodo writes that CNN's iPhone app makes other news apps look lazy - saving stories for offline reading, an iReport submission panel, and push notifications for live video streaming are some of the features. They come at a price. The new Reuters application disappoints, writes ReadWriteWeb.

Given the increase in the number of people who will have access to high speed, Internet-enabled devices in years to come, news organizations have joined many other companies that are ahead of the game on portability.

The best part on this is that news organizations have a new opportunity to be portable with relevance. In an age when magazines and newspapers are not a daily habit as much any more, news apps incorporate portability with immediacy - push notifications are an example of that.

What can businesses learn from news apps?

A couple of years ago we talked about providing value in exchange for presence on mobile phones. Great brands provide utility, experimentation, design of experience, create a sense of community with customers, and change the model.

How do you get invited in people's phones? As I wrote about two years ago, it comes down to:

1. Publishing great content - this is something you will continue to see everywhere. In fact, it's becoming a big issue for many who launch Web properties and then scramble to stay competitive with content. Imagine how much harder to feed the Web that feeds the phone. It's a completely new way of organizing content.

2. Being real - we got past the empty "hi, how are you, I'm on a train now having a sandwich" kind of real. Put the calories in the purpose and utility of the exchange instead. Education, entertainment and engagement are good starting points, depending on what your brand stands for. We'd like to have more education and utility when it comes to news.

3. Giving the inside scoop - what's behind the scenes, how quickly can we learn about something? This still seems to be faster in social networks, but only because we're not burdened by the bigger scoop for the news organization, which is monetized heavily.

4. Being personal - digital body language tracking and all that, a personal relationship still outweighs any spooky kind of gimmicky stuff like "I noticed you were browsing on that site" and helps tremendously with the "so what" factor.

5. Allowing a conversation - mobile begins to fare much better than social this year.

From what I've seen so far, NPR is the better experience overall. The nonprofit organization has done very well at reinventing the community experience through new media, and that includes mobile news.

Think you can provide the kind of value your readers will pay for? Josh Sprague provides some step by step instructions on how to set up your own pay wall.

***

What would bring even more utility to a news app for you? Do you have any favorites? Why? What do you consider intrusive for your phone? Are your barriers lowering with use?

© 2006-2010 Valeria Maltoni. All rights reserved.

Comments

[Skip Shuda]

Valeria, Thanks for sharing some of your news sources and the growing trend of mobile news apps.

I've been wondering about "always-on" Social Media Divas like you - and am curious if you have specific times and regimens for staying in touch via Social. Or do you just go with the flow of each day separately?

[Ivan Walsh]

Hi Valeria,

Last xmas was the first time that Amazon sold more digital books that paper ones, ie tipping points. It seems that the platforms (and demand) are now ready to support mobile devices.

However, trying to 'shrink' content (ie focus on reducing the word count etc) to fit mobile devices isn't the answer.

Content strategies need to understand and then leverage mobile devices - there will be a lot of trial and error.

But now is the time to start. The faster you fail, the faster you learn.

PS - Tim O Reilly made the point the mobile devices is more than just phones. Something for content developers to reflect on.

Ivan
China

[Richard A.]

There's something you're skimming over and that's the ability for AFP, AP and other news agencies to create apps so that the ordinary public can get the information straight from those gathering the agency news which is then redeployed from user to user.

The consequence is that without creating original content those that simply re-print agency material will lose audience to the agencies providing some of the news.

It will encourage original news gathering once again. International news is easy to get, but local news is a little more of a challenge. There are a few web apps that are for the local audiences. I'm thinking of Lematin's web app and romandie.com as to example. They give news and information for an area with an audience of 700,000 people.

These apps are not all free. I'm thinking of AFP, BBC World and Al Jazeera as apps. Each of these is paying, 3.30 swiss francs a piece. It's the same price as a paper but you can access the newest contents until you remove that app from the phone.

[Christopher Ming Ryan]

Valeria, I agree with you on all counts.

I consider your blog "news" as well and that's why I check it on my iPhone through RSS Runner ever day.

I notice that you're on Typepad and you may be interested in making your blog more iPhone friendly with an app. Typepad currently doesn't have an elegant way to show its feed on an iPhone.

I made my app with appmakr.com. Here's some info that you might find of interest:

Discount for Appmakr: http://bit.ly/6qiJLv

And why I did it: The Obligatory "I have an iPhone App" Post: http://bit.ly/90yN5C

See ya on my mobile!

[Peter Rodgers]

Valeria and Christopher,

A fabulous overview Valeria. Christopher, the Appmakr program looks like it will be perfect for some new business models I am developing. Thanks for sharing!

[Christopher Ming Ryan]

@Peter Tell Scott Suhy that you learned about through me. He's a good guy! Thanks!

[Valeria Maltoni]

@Skip - it depends on what else is going on with projects and schedules. I found that partial, continuous attention doesn't work for me. I prefer to tun in early, check things out, then get off line to my first life and check back again later. You?

@Ivan - indeed, any one medium requires different formatting, tone, style, and thought process. I like to think about context first, designing the experience for how the person utilizes the medium.

@Richard A. - we're at the infancy of local efforts. I expect to see much more in that arena. Why? They're more personal and, as you point out, original experiences. Sharing is built in the fabric of the community. It's just been dormant for a little while. Utility and experience sell value.

@Christopher - thank you for the information. Love the sense of humor, too. Thank you for reading.

@Peter - glad to help make the connection here. Thank you for stopping by.

[Eric]

Great post. I think a lot of people/businesses are just viewing mobile and mobile apps as just something they "should" be doing, instead of really understanding the reasons and potential behind it. Its a disappointingly common-place theme in social media. Mobile is an important part of a comprehensive social presence to integrate your brand with consumer convenience.