The Guardian newspaper application has been downloaded 70,000 times at £2.39 a pop on the iPhone / iTouch in the first month since launch.  Good news indeed for The Guardian if this continues to grow.  It might also bring a grin to Rupert Murdoch’s face as he wrestles for money from users and search engines for his news content.

The success of The Guardian app runs counter to the argument of many that people simply won’t pay for news content online.  It’s undoubtedly a valid argument.  Readers, now so used to the internet being free, may well simply seek out alternative news sources if and when News International or others start charging.

But the 70,000 who bought The Guardian app felt, in the mobile space at least, that £2.39 was a fair price to pay for news, comment, features, photo galleries and audio that could be personalised and some of it accessed offline.

Mobile is different from the PC accessed web, admittedly, with surfing, even on smart phones, still not as easy and micropayments far easier.  It proves however that people are prepared to pay for news if it is packaged right, the price is sufficiently low and the content is widespread and reliable.

Tags: app, iPhone, iTouch, murdoch, news international, smartphone, the guardian

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 17th, 2010 at 6:56 pm and is filed under Mobile Marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.