Tablets: Don’t Neglect the Significant for the Urgent

On February 24th the Motorola Xoom tablet was released, and already some have said it is poised to offer a real threat to the iPad market share. With a comparable screen size and weight, the Xoom has some of the same qualities of the iPad while running the droid operating system.

While Nxtbook is already running our publishers’ content on Android devices, there is one crucial element we still advocate when talking with publishers about their digital edition strategy: when it comes to tablets, don’t neglect the significant in favor of the urgent.

If 2010 really was the year of the tablet, publishers are feeling the pressure more and more each day to make urgent decisions regarding getting their content on tablet devices. The problem is, with every month that ticks by, it seems a new tablet device is coming out (see Samsung, Apple, Dell, and Motorola, to name a few). There’s a real push to get there and to get there yesterday! But there are significant factors in play, not the least of which is to consider:

     – While there are a lot of tablets being produced, how many of your audience are buying and using them to access content? (check out some stats here).

     – How much collateral do you have to invest in developing an app? (Nxtbook offers app packages for native, web, and branded apps. Ask your account manager for the app guide.)

     – Is your business model better suited for laying out your content for one tablet/mobile device, or do you want to use the same layout for multiple devices?

With the push to get on every new and shiny device, it’s a good idea to talk with your account manager and utilize our information base to develop a strategy for your business. Nxtbook account managers spend a lot of time in the digital media trenches for this exact reason: to be of service to you.

Not a Nxtbook customer? A good place to start is to download the 2011 e-Reader Guide to learn which devices are proving relevant so far, and which are still waiting in the wings. (Nxtbook publishers should feel free to download the guide, too, for additional information.)

Publishing Expo(UK) Bound?

Publishing Expo (the UK version) opens up for business in London next week. Used to be, this show was within 1 week of the US Publishing Expo. More confusing? The shows are owned by two different companies and are completely unrelated. Fortunately, the US version is now in April, so it’s a little simpler to play along. At any rate, you can find us at stand C14 in London (they call them stands, not booths), and I’ll be chairing two panels on Day 1 – one exploring which platforms you should focus on and another addressing design as it relates to multiple formats. Hope to see you there!

 

Nxtbook Media Mixes it Up

We’ve often said we pride ourselves in offering publishers the best of the best: the most education opportunities, the top strategies for success, unparalleled levels of service, and so on. But what is sometimes missed is that we can offer all this only because we have an incredible staff.

Nxtbook Media is a living, breathing company of individuals. This past week, we had the opportunity to showcase that to 300 members of our community by hosting a Lancaster Chamber of Commerce mixer event. People were wowed as we demonstrated what we do and how we do it. Visitors were welcomed to tour our facility and to ask any Nxtbook employee questions. Conversations ranged from the metrics tracked in digital magazines to the wow-factor of custom animations depending on whether you were talking to a developer or designer, account manager or accountant. The entire company was open and fair game.

If nothing else, this much we know: our clients have access to a very bright, enthusiastic, outgoing, energetic, and creative staff every day. By taking on mass demonstrations of our company to whoever wanted to listen, we tapped into the "We can do anything" culture we use as a part of high-performance team. And we are at your service.

 

*In case you were wondering, Nxtbook staff was in green shirts for this event.

Where the Rubber Meets The Road

We haven’t been covering too much of the Apple subscription debate, mostly because a. it doesn’t apply to 99% of controlled circ titles and b. most of what you read is still based on opinions and interpretations of policy, not experience. But here’s an exception: Matt Kinsman from FOLIO talked to Popular Science about the current and future issues with tablet app subscriptions. Popular Science has tried a lot of strategies on a lot of devices. When these guys talk, rest assured, they’re speaking from experience. Don’t miss the article.

Numbers Behind the News

Still wondering how your audience is using mobile devices? Questioning the relevance of the iPhone, iPad, Droids, and so on with respect to your content? Consider Omniture’s tracking statistics for the past month. Among all Omniture-tracked websites, these are the percentages for each device used to access the site:

Apple iPhone: 37.9%  
Apple iPad: 17.8% 
Apple iPod Touch: 9.1% 
Nokia 5800: 4.6%  
Nokia N8-00: 3.2%
HTC Evo: 3.1%   
Motorola Droid: 2.7%  
Nokia 5230: 2.7%
Motorola DroidX: 2.5% 
Blackberry 8530/Curve: 2.2% 
HTC Droid Incredible: 1.8%   
Nokia 5233: 1.7% 
Nokia E71: 1.7%  
Nokia E63: 1.6%  
Nokia X6: 1.6%
RIM Blackberry 9700/Onyx: 1.6%  
Nokia 5530: 1.5%
Blackberry 8330: 1.4%
Nokia E72: 1.4%  

And here is the breakdown by mobile operating system:

iOS: 48.6%
Symbian (Nokia): 23.4%
Android: 16.8%
RIM (Blackberry): 9.3%

You can compare this data to January,  December, and November’s numbers.

FOLIO: Acquired by Access Intelligence

So news comes today that FOLIO has been acquired by Access Intelligence, publishers of Min, et. al. According to what we’ve heard, Min’s content will now be under the watchful eyes of Kerry Smith, Tony Silber and the team at FOLIO.

Personally, I’d call this a plus for those of us who consume such industry content. We feel that FOLIO is always on top of the issues our customers care about while Min, historically, hasn’t always been. Congrats to all involved!

3%, We Barely Knew Ye…

Folks, the tide has turned. Late last year, we had 2% of readers consuming Nxtbooks on non-computer devices. Last month, we had 3%. In the past 30 days, the number is 4.2%. This is an aggregate percentage of our two million monthly readers and your mileage will certainly vary, but the point remains: you need a mobile strategy.

For engagement time, it seems the bigger and prettier your device, the longer people stay. Overall average engagement is over seven minutes, Mac computer users are the best, at more than eight and a half minutes, and iPad users are at five minutes. Mobile users, less still.

Be sure to ask your Account Manager about GoMobile! and our branded apps. The time is now!

 

Remember Next Issue Media?

Yeah, I barely do, either, but now some people are starting to wonder why they haven’t accomplished anything.

It’s Not About Apple, It’s About the App Store

So Apple has now released a policy regarding collecting subscription revenue. You can read the full policy and coverage of it from FOLIO here. I have been known to pick on FOLIO from time to time, but in this case their coverage is spot on, unlike others. For instance, here’s a misleading quote from the Wall Street Journal:

"For instance, a magazine that wants to publish its content on an iPad cannot include a link in an iPad app that would direct readers to buy subscriptions through the magazine’s website."

The above quote is incorrect because there is nothing – zero, zilch, nada – that Apple can or will do to prevent your content from appearing in the browser of the iPad, unless you’re trying to push someone there from a native app and then selling your content. And while web apps lack the speed and performance of native apps today, that won’t always be the case.

So then, here are three things you need to know about Apple’s policy:

1.) If you are controlled circ, it doesn’t matter. Understand: this is a paid conversation only. While you could certainly complain about Apple for some things, there is this: they will allow you to give away content, unlike – for example – Amazon. If you aren’t charging for your content, you’re fine.

2.) If you have a multi-platform approach including web-apps (as we’ve always recommended), your exposure is much more limited.

3.) As we said in an earlier article on FOLIO, if you are relying on a native app to sell content through Apple, make sure your pricing and investment works.

 

Pursuit of Excellence

What sets Nxtbook Media apart from other digital publishers?

Look at this picture. What do you see?

 

Collaboration. Education. Exchanges.

This is a picture of Nxtbook’s meeting of the minds, a summit occurring twice a year to keep us on the cutting edge. Nxtbook sales, success, and account management teams met together to discuss what works, the latest ideas, and the best strategies for our clients. These are the people who interact with our clients on a daily basis, so they are intimately aware of our publisher’s needs, goals, and stories. In these meetings, it’s our job to figure out the best ways to help our clients outperform.

Among the ideas discussed:

Nxtbook Creative Team and Talefoundry successes. Among the successes coming from this department is this digital activity plan and this feature media outlook. With the creative team, we’ve been redefining what it means to present content digitally, and this brainstorming session brought a whole new fervor to how we can share this with our clients.

What’s big in the industry? Tablets and apps are on everyone’s minds. Everyone at the summit could agree that having a plan in place specifically geared for these realities is essential. We honed in on the best ways to help our clients not only see the goals they want to achieve with tablets and apps, but also the tried and true ways to get there. (Read about one publisher’s success with apps here.)

New features and products. No one understands our clients’ needs like the people gathered at this collaboration session, and we took advantage of that. Expect to see new and exciting opportunities from Nxtbook Media as a direct result of some of the topics discussed here.

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