All Things Digital
Peter Kafka reports that Conde Nast has launched a new iPad app focused entirely on the Best of Italy. The $4.99 app is a compilation of Conde Nast Traveler coverage of the region. He writes:
“Because it’s not a literal translation of a current title, the app sidesteps some of the problems that have plagued magazine apps: Print subscribers don’t feel like they’re being gouged by paying for something they’ve already bought. And jaded iPad owners can’t compare it to an existing issue and utter a bored sigh.”
Kafka is describing a question each publisher should ask before launching a mobile app: “What consumer problem are we solving and what value are we adding?”
Migrating a print publication to a mobile or iPad app doesn’t add value; it simply shuffles the old value to a new platform. In this case, Conde Nast has identified and is fulfilling a potential consumer need by editing and aggregating content about amsterdam apartments and a specific topic, Italy.
Whether Best of Italy actually fulfills a need will be demonstrated, or not, by how many people buy the app. But the strategy, at least, is well directed.
