Hello and welcome to the latest edition of the new look Dig-it.
The arrival of the iPad has really captured the imagination of MIG's clients and the company has been busy developing apps for the new device and exploring what other tablets and smartphones may bring to the mix. Leading the way are print media companies, with MIG developing a fantastic app for News International's Sun newspaper which shows how digital need not kill of print. It is also good news for mobile billing, as new apps bring new revenue stream. Barry Houlihan, CEO and founder of MIG explains.
It is an interesting time to be in publishing, with the arrival of the iPad finally delivering a platform that can mimick, as well as rival, newsprint and MIG has been at the forefront of this, developing the iPad app for News International’s Sun newspaper – which, on launch went straight to the top of the paid for apps chart here in the UK.
The Sun iPad app really shows how exciting new technology can be for the publishing industry. The Sun is a 'killer brand' and the technology of the iPad – which lets you download the app, get it updated daily and read the content much like a newspaper – finally brings the old and the new together with great effect and has been hugely successful for the publisher.
It has also sparked a great deal of interest from other publications within the News International stable, as well as from other publishers of both newspapers and magazines, who MIG is currently in talks with, with a view to delivering equally adventurous and exciting apps for iPad and other top end devices.
The Sun app also demonstrates our mobile publishing content management system at work, offering a total e-publishing solution. Our technology keeps on developing and evolving and we are starting now to see enormous demand from publishers for what our technology can do. In fact we have a big new technology launch coming up over the summer, so watch this space…
Meanwhile, the revolution we are seeing around mobile publishing ushered in by the iPhone and taken to new heights by the iPad and the promise of other tablet devices is also proving to be a boom for mobile payments.
Apps such as that for The Sun are charged at £4.99 and this – along with the need for in-app billing across the board – is offering a new challenge to the mobile payment industry; a challenge that it is rising too. It is also getting mobile payments in front of consumers in a positive way, which will lead to more widespread use of mobile as a payment tool going forward – all good news for our other core businesses.
In fact, mobile as a commerce medium is also proving to be a growth area for the group, with numerous big name retailers working with us to develop exciting new m-commerce applications and m-web services.
This follows on from the huge success we had working to develop an m-web based m-commerce service for Marks & Spencer, which went live in May. This has shown how retailers can successfully combine their high street, catalogue and online commerce services with mobile to deliver a slick and seamless experience to consumers.
And there will be many more to come – with some big retailers and brands talking to us right now about how they want to develop their m-commerce offerings.
There is also excitement building around TV, where we have had so much success to date, with regulators gaining momentum towards a possible re-introduction of SMS voting to TV programmes in the UK later this year.
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July 2010
