Comments on: Carr’s “iTunes for news” already exists

By: Jack B. Rochester

Jack B. Rochester — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 05:29:32 +0000

There exists another device for reading the online news besides the iPod: it’s called the Kindle. I write about it at my blogsite, The Business Insider, in the marketing channel: http://www.timrosablog.com/main_blog/marketing_communications/

By: Nick Carr

Nick Carr — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 17:10:51 +0000

“The real fallacy in [David] Carr’s delusion is that a news story or an opinion, like a song, is unique—that you can’t get it somewhere else and so you have to buy the original.”

That’s Jarvis spouting off his usual philistinism. Just because his words and opinions are fungible doesn’t mean everyone else’s are.

By: Steve-2

Steve-2 — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 14:59:05 +0000

Depends on how you view News. News already has a successful online business model. Practiced by companies such as Thomson Reuters, Bloomberg and Reed-Elsevier Group, this model is based on selling focused, actionable information (news) to professionals for use in their business. When the dust eventually settles, it may be that delivering news with content wide in scope but shallow in depth doesn’t have much of an audience.

By: Scott Rosenberg’s Wordyard » Blog Archive » Shafer’s this-ain’t-the-Web dream world

Tue, 13 Jan 2009 17:02:45 +0000

[...] « Carr’s “iTunes for news” already exists [...]

By: JoshD

JoshD — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 14:23:36 +0000

Carr also ignores that Newspapers rely on Ad revenue far more than subscriptions. Selling electronic subscriptions via an iTunes – like store would not provide a significant new source of revenue.

By: Is Analysis the new News? - Play Things

Is Analysis the new News? - Play Things — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 09:27:51 +0000

[...] Carr’s piece was immediately ripped to shreds by detractors: 1, 2, 3. [...]

By: Notes from a Teacher - Monday squibs (updated)

Notes from a Teacher - Monday squibs (updated) — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 06:04:27 +0000

[...] An iTunes for news? Dumb, dumb, dumb. Mathew Ingram, as he so often does, absolutely nails it. Memorize the last graf. Related: Scott Rosenberg’s Carr’s “iTunes for news” already exists. [...]

By: hamish

hamish — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 05:31:38 +0000

In case you’re wondering what it could look like:

http://www.vanityfair.com/online/culture/2009/01/12/what-itunes-for-news-would-really-look-like.html

By: Zac Echola

Zac Echola — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 05:11:03 +0000

Excellent observation about newspapers not figuring out how to make as much money online as they make in print.

The answer may be (and I’d argue probably is) scale. However news is catered to niche markets (i.e. the local paper) that have difficulty scaling to sizable audiences at current impression rates.

There are two options. One, raise CPM and CPC rates and risk losing ad money to those with lower rates. And Two, scale to a larger audience share.

Hiding behind a fantasy of transactional models for a commodity like news is a disaster.

By: An iTunes for News? Duh! | Gauravonomics Blog

An iTunes for News? Duh! | Gauravonomics Blog — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 04:32:08 +0000

[...] Scott Rosenberg says that the news business already knows how to make money online — through advertising — it’s just that it doesn’t know how to make as much money as it made in print. [...]