2 Philly Newspapers To Begin Selling Subsidized Android Tablets
Now that is some outside the box thinking. Thanks to the internet as a major news source many newspapers today are facing the same problem; evolve or die. In a last remaining effort to gain new subscribers, two Philly papers, The Philadelphia Enquirer and its sister paper the Philadelphia Daily News, are are bringing their old business model into the 21st century by offering paid digital content — here’s the catch — on subsidized Android tablets.
It actually reminds me a lot of wireless carriers and the business model we’re seeing today. Subscribe to a service, receive a discounted device. These discounted tablets will be offered to you when you sign up for a 1- 2-year daily subscription and when combined with the price of the hardware, should only equal about half off their full retail price. These tablets will come pre-loaded with digital versions of both newspapers and in the spirit of Google, will sell e-commerce ads right on the homescreen.
Details remain quite scarce at the moment as far as pricing and no manufacturers have been announced, although they did mention it would be an Android tablet currently on the market today. Motorola Xoom, perhaps?
It’s tough to persuade someone into subscribing to anything let alone a paid digital news service that the internet already offers for free. Hopefully, this is the start of a new trend. Why Google never offered their own subsidized Android super tablet to undercut the iPad, gain a huge customer base of app buying consumers, all the while enticing developers into their app Market is anyone’s guess. Always thought that would have been a good idea but I’m just a poor Mexican.
[Via AdWeek]