By David Johnson
poynter.org
How much media could you buy for $1,189? That’s the first-year cost to own the top-of-line 3G iPad before buying any content to view on it.
That’s 60 books or DVDs (at an average of $20 apiece), 119 movie tickets ($10), 238 magazines at the newsstand ($5 apiece), or 24 AAA games for the Xbox 360 or a similar console (at an average of $50 apiece). Sure, you could economize by going for the lowest model at $499 with just Wi-Fi, or by buying the $15-a-month data plan, but wouldn’t it be nicer if you could simply tether your iPhone data connection and get more value for that expensive service?
With each new device, and each new connection to the grid, the consumers are coming to the marketplace with less money in their pocket, because the cost of simply being on the grid has skyrocketed in the past 10 years. This should be a concern for all content publishers, whether The New York Times, MediaNews or any one of thousands of local news operations, that think each new device is a silver bullet that will make a magic pay wall strategy work.
We all know a lot has changed since the ’90s, as Howard Kurtz documented in a year-ender on the evolution of media in the “aughts.” Angry Journalists are coming to grips with a new media environment and are bantering about business models.
But there is one change over the past decade that I haven’t seen anyone address adequately: Personal and household connectivity charges have quietly and steadily increased by as much as 4.3 times over the past 10 years. There is one notable exception to this lack of reporting: those who have noted the costs of the iPhone to consumers and profits for the players.) And I think this has a major impact on any chance of success for paid content strategy. . . READ FULL STORY
