Whether media companies like it or not (and they mostly don’t), much of the news and other content we consume now comes via links shared through Twitter and Facebook and other networks, or through old-fashioned aggregators — such as Yahoo News or Google News — and newer ones like Flipboard and Zite and Prismatic that are tailored to mobile devices and a socially-driven news experience. Compared to that kind of model, a dedicated app from a magazine or a newspaper looks much less interesting, since by design it contains content from only a single outlet, and it usually doesn’t contain helpful things like links.

The class of semi-portable, two-hands-required, touch-screen devices we generically refer to as “tablets” really contains two distinct species.

There are the 10-inch screens, where the $499-and-up iPad dominates and has reigned all tablets as best-in-class.

And then there is … Read more

LeVar, I'd like to know what media you consume when you wake up on a Sunday, where you consume it, and how? So, is it a physical newspaper or magazine, an iPad app, a website in a browser, an online video series, a podcast? Any or all of the above?

BURTON: Sunday morning is a traditional day for laying in bed, a little while -- much longer than a normal day -- and, you know my iPad charges on my nightstand, so it's the first thing I reach for. Generally the first thing I do is check emails and then Twitter feed, and on Sunday morning, you know I like to play with Flipboard, and just sort of check in to the world and I can do that without having to get up. And I like that, I like that idea a lot. We get to the newspaper, but that's not until we get upstairs. We get the Sunday paper, I like arranging it on the kitchen counter, section by section, and different members of the family come and grab their favorite section, and that's kind of a ritual, but the ritual begins in bed with the iPad.

.... Do you find yourself reading less, more, or differently now that you have so many sources of information vying for your attention?

BURTON: I read fewer -- I used to read the newspaper every day. I get most of my news updates from electronic and social media. I don't read a newspaper anymore, I don't -- I think I've watched TV news less, certainly. I like the immediacy of Twitter, and -- yeah, I really, I do read the newspaper less.

• iPad users said they spend 6.1 hours per week "keeping up with the news."
• Younger iPad users, ages 18-34, said they spend 7.3 hours per week "keeping up with the news."
• 84 percent of iPad users ages 18-34 said they use it for "keeping up with the news"

Building a good app starts with asking yourself the right questions.

The most fundamental one: What does my audience want? That’s the problem that people at ABC News have tried to solve since launching an iPad app almost two years … Read more

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