According to media analyst Ken Doctor, Montreal's La Presse + is very close to going paperless, substituting the print edition with its already successful tablet edition, published each morning.
From the start of La Presse+'s tablet edition, executives at the newspaper have appeared in seminars worldwide, describing the success of their tablet edition, as well as forecasting the day when there would not be a printed newspaper. Now, it seems, they may be the first newspaper in North America to really do just that.
It is true that tablets are not the protagonists these days, except perhaps in Canada. I found Ken Doctor's comments about the tablet to be thought provoking:
Today, tablets seem to have settled into early middle-age hood, valued, but a third-place player overall to web and smartphone use, bringing in about 12 to 15 percent of news publishers’ traffic. Except in Montreal.
There, La Presse, Quebec’s second largest daily, remains a true believer in the tablet dream. Its La Presse+ product, which drew a fair amount of attention when it launched in April 2013, is now getting a second wind. Its success, its leaders say, is such that daily print will disappear sooner than later.
We will be watching with great interest, and wondering if, at least at first, La Presse will incorporate an e paper edition showing the pagination of the newspaper as if it was printed, but without having to face up to the expenses involved in printing.
It is the 10th edition of +1T design conference in Turkey
I am delighted to be in Istanbul today to conduct two sessions at the 10th annual +1T Newspaper and Design Days, a program rich in content and a variety of activities ranging from lectures to workshops. The goal of +1T is to provide an insight on publishing and designing for future journalists. It is sponsored by the Zaman newspaper, which is the venue as well.
My sessions are titled: “The role of print in a digital world” and “Storytelling in the Age of the Media Quintet”.
For more information:
http://www.todayszaman.com/national_1t-newspaper-design-days-to-kick-off-10th-year_383712.html