Close Menu
TechCentralTechCentral

    Subscribe to the newsletter

    Get the best South African technology news and analysis delivered to your e-mail inbox every morning.

    Facebook X (Twitter) YouTube LinkedIn
    WhatsApp Facebook X (Twitter) LinkedIn YouTube
    TechCentralTechCentral
    • News

      Public money, private plans: MPs demand Post Office transparency

      13 June 2025

      Coal to cash: South Africa gets major boost for energy shift

      13 June 2025

      China is behind in AI chips – but for how much longer?

      13 June 2025

      Singapore soared – why can’t we? Lessons South Africa refuses to learn

      13 June 2025

      10 red flags for Apple investors

      13 June 2025
    • World

      Yahoo tries to make its mail service relevant again

      13 June 2025

      Qualcomm shows off new chip for AI smart glasses

      11 June 2025

      Trump tariffs to dim 2025 smartphone shipments

      4 June 2025

      Shrimp Jesus and the AI ad invasion

      4 June 2025

      Apple slams EU rules as ‘flawed and costly’ in major legal pushback

      2 June 2025
    • In-depth

      Grok promised bias-free chat. Then came the edits

      2 June 2025

      Digital fortress: We go inside JB5, Teraco’s giant new AI-ready data centre

      30 May 2025

      Sam Altman and Jony Ive’s big bet to out-Apple Apple

      22 May 2025

      South Africa unveils big state digital reform programme

      12 May 2025

      Is this the end of Google Search as we know it?

      12 May 2025
    • TCS

      TechCentral Nexus S0E1: Starlink, BEE and a new leader at Vodacom

      8 June 2025

      TCS+ | The future of mobile money, with MTN’s Kagiso Mothibi

      6 June 2025

      TCS+ | AI is more than hype: Workday execs unpack real human impact

      4 June 2025

      TCS | Sentiv, and the story behind the buyout of Altron Nexus

      3 June 2025

      TCS | Signal restored: Unpacking the Blue Label and Cell C turnaround

      28 May 2025
    • Opinion

      Beyond the box: why IT distribution depends on real partnerships

      2 June 2025

      South Africa’s next crisis? Being offline in an AI-driven world

      2 June 2025

      Digital giants boost South African news media – and get blamed for it

      29 May 2025

      Solar panic? The truth about SSEG, fines and municipal rules

      14 April 2025

      Data protection must be crypto industry’s top priority

      9 April 2025
    • Company Hubs
      • Africa Data Centres
      • AfriGIS
      • Altron Digital Business
      • Altron Document Solutions
      • Altron Group
      • Arctic Wolf
      • AvertITD
      • Braintree
      • CallMiner
      • CYBER1 Solutions
      • Digicloud Africa
      • Digimune
      • Domains.co.za
      • ESET
      • Euphoria Telecom
      • Incredible Business
      • iONLINE
      • Iris Network Systems
      • LSD Open
      • NEC XON
      • Network Platforms
      • Next DLP
      • Ovations
      • Paracon
      • Paratus
      • Q-KON
      • SkyWire
      • Solid8 Technologies
      • Telit Cinterion
      • Tenable
      • Vertiv
      • Videri Digital
      • Wipro
      • Workday
    • Sections
      • AI and machine learning
      • Banking
      • Broadcasting and Media
      • Cloud services
      • Contact centres and CX
      • Cryptocurrencies
      • Education and skills
      • Electronics and hardware
      • Energy and sustainability
      • Enterprise software
      • Fintech
      • Information security
      • Internet and connectivity
      • Internet of Things
      • Investment
      • IT services
      • Lifestyle
      • Motoring
      • Public sector
      • Retail and e-commerce
      • Science
      • SMEs and start-ups
      • Social media
      • Talent and leadership
      • Telecoms
    • Events
    • Advertise
    TechCentralTechCentral
    Home » In-depth » SA newspapers embrace tablets

    SA newspapers embrace tablets

    By Editor31 January 2011
    Twitter LinkedIn Facebook WhatsApp Email Telegram Copy Link
    News Alerts
    WhatsApp

    With Rupert Murdoch’s iPad-only newspaper, The Daily, set to debut this week and Richard Branson’s iPad magazine, Project, already on its second edition, SA media houses are revving up to provide their own tablet editions.

    The explosion of tablet devices, which started late last year on the back of Apple’s popular iPad, has created a new and richer platform for media companies to extend their print offerings into the electronic realm. Murdoch has called the device a “game changer”.

    SA publications are already starting to push out tablet and smartphone apps. Naspers’s Media24 already has applications for smartphones and tablets.

    So far, the iPad has proved the most popular target for applications, despite the fact that it only went on sale officially in SA last week.

    Since its launch last year, thousands of South Africans have imported the device from markets where it was already on sale.

    SA’s newspaper newcomer, The New Age, which published its first print edition in December, came to market with an iPad edition from the start.

    The New Age online editor Scott Smith says even though devices like the iPad are not really being used by the paper’s target market, it felt it needed to have a tablet edition to be relevant to a growing market.

    “The iPad market in SA is still small but we felt we needed to be there. There has been a fair amount of interest in the service we offer already,” says Smith.

    The New Age’s iPad version is still in its infancy, providing the same content that can be found on the website version. “It is feeds-driven, and we don’t have any of the bells and whistles yet,” says Smith.

    Alistair Fairweather

    However, he says there are plans to introduce fully fledged tablet applications that will offer content and interactivity on the iPad and many other devices and operating systems.

    As a new newspaper, The New Age still has to work out many kinks before it can start thinking about putting more effort into its tablet applications, says Smith.

    The Mail & Guardian has also started developing applications for tablet devices. The company has outsourced the development of its tablet and smartphone applications to SA specialist business Cobi Interactive. Cobi has developed smartphone applications for several high-profile publications, including all of News24’s applications as well as an application for CNN’s African news service.

    Alistair Fairweather, digital platforms manager at the Mail & Guardian, says the newspaper’s applications are still in the early development phase. The publication plans to launch its iPad edition soon. It will mimic the content published on the M&G’s website.

    However, it eventually wants to develop an application that will bring its multimedia content and feature stories to life.

    More than simply bringing content to readers in new formats, tablet devices, smartphones and their associated applications bring new opportunities to publications like the M&G, says Fairweather.

    Users that download apps on these devices are more likely to pay for content than those users reading content online on their PCs.

    Apple’s iPhone, iPad and Apple application stores, Google’s Android Market and Blackberry’s App World are all enjoying growth, both in free and paid-for apps.

    The M&G has identified another niche where tablet editions could help the company cut costs. “We spend thousands of rand to send papers to international subscribers, who will only receive the paper days later,” he says.

    Instead of using “snail mail”, the newspaper intends recommending to international readers that they subscribe to the tablet edition.

    BlackBerry is also an important platform for the M&G, especially given that it’s one of the most widely used smartphones in SA.

    The newspaper has also decided to build a version for the Kindle, Amazon’s popular e-reader. Development has begun on the Kindle edition.  — Candice Jones, TechCentral

    • Subscribe to our free daily newsletter
    • Follow us on Twitter or on Facebook


    Alistair Fairweather Apple BlackBerry iPad Mail & Guardian Rupert Murdoch
    Subscribe to TechCentral Subscribe to TechCentral
    Share. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email Copy Link
    Previous ArticleTalkCentral: Episode 23 – ‘Digital TV special’
    Next Article News24 feels the heat

    Related Posts

    10 red flags for Apple investors

    13 June 2025

    Qualcomm shows off new chip for AI smart glasses

    11 June 2025

    Apple throws shade, not code, as it falls behind in AI

    10 June 2025
    Company News

    Huawei Watch Fit 4 Series: smarter sensors, sharper design, stronger performance

    13 June 2025

    Change Logic and BankservAfrica set new benchmark with PayShap roll-out

    13 June 2025

    SAPHILA 2025 – transcending with purpose, connection and AI-powered vision

    13 June 2025
    Opinion

    Beyond the box: why IT distribution depends on real partnerships

    2 June 2025

    South Africa’s next crisis? Being offline in an AI-driven world

    2 June 2025

    Digital giants boost South African news media – and get blamed for it

    29 May 2025

    Subscribe to Updates

    Get the best South African technology news and analysis delivered to your e-mail inbox every morning.

    © 2009 - 2025 NewsCentral Media

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.