Unsupported Device: Exclusively Packaging News

Although it is not unprecedented, I was momentarily taken aback when I followed a link to The Economist Group's new election site and was told that "It looks like you're trying to access Electionism from an unsupported device." The funny thing is, I was using a newish PC laptop running the latest Firefox browser.

The reason, of course, is that this is a new tablet app, and because it is a web app (designed in HTML5 and avoiding Apple's App Store) it has a URL, but is not designed for non-tablet browsers.  I am sure there are other examples, and there are surely many more examples to come.

The interesting aspect here is how to look at the product.  Is it content?  Or just packaging of content?  Without spending much time with it, I assume it is the latter.  Based on my quick sample, most if not all of the content comprising the site is available elsewhere (sources include The Economist, CQ Roll Call, and twitter feeds) and this is simply a new way to package it together and design the UI for slick tablet navigation.  But if in fact there is unique content, or if the combination created in this environment is compelling enough to tell a unique story, what does it mean that the publisher is excluding the majority of its potential audience?

It might not mean much.  It is a reward for tablet adopters, who are probably among their most loyal customer segments, and this platform gives them an opportunity to experiment and innovate, which we all know publishers need to do more.  And with limited resources there are trade offs of where to spend development energy and dollars, so cross-platform products are not always feasible.  There is also no special advertising or paywalls as of today, so the product does not have a price for consumers or a revenue stream for the business.  It might just be a case of a new platform allowing for a new package of content given different consumption habits of tablet users.

Coincidentally, today also saw the news that The Daily will soon be available on some Android devices.  While it will no longer be limited only to the iPad, it will still only be available to consumers with tablets, which is a very small slice of the total news market, especially for The Daily, which is a more general interest publication, but is creating a lot of original content exclusively for the product.  Again it is a strategic bet on the market by Rupert Murdoch, that while I think it has a slim chance of succeeding, it just might work if they innovate on story telling and packaging and have good enough content to win readers over as they adopt the new devices and see that their current news providers are a step behind.  Of course, other publications already producing similar content could quickly catch up by learning how to package and adapt storytelling for new platforms and audiences with changing consumption habits.  We'll see who wins.  If we look back 10-15 years we can see the rise of CNN.com and Yahoo news as news destinations over newspapers online that were slow to learn how to produce and package content differently for new platforms.