Fairfax launches tablet apps for Android
Fairfax has launched Android version of its tablet apps for the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. The company states they will be “free for a limited time”.
The announcement:
July 9, 2012: Fairfax Metro Media has today launched SMH and The Age Android tablet apps, its first news apps built specifically for tablets using the Android operating system.
From today, a beta version on the SMH and The Age apps will be available to users of Android tablets from manufacturers’ including Samsung, Motorola and Asus. They will be able to download and view SMH and The Age in an app format similar to the award-winning SMH and The Age iPad* apps.
Users will receive access to daily and weekly sections, as well as Sudoku and weather.
“We’ve developed these new apps to meet the demands of the fast-growing Android market,” Mobile Director, Metro Mastheads, Rick Gleave said.
“The launch today of these apps will enable us to engage with Fairfax audiences across Android tablet devices and to take commercial advantage of this rapidly expanding segment by offering increased tablet inventory for advertisers.”
According to research by Telsyte, 2.6 million Australians are already using a tablet device and more than 11 million are forecast to be using one by 2016. More than 1.4 million media tablets were sold in Australia in 2011, representing an annual growth rate of more than 330 per cent.
Android devices currently account for about 30 per cent of tablet sales.
From today, the SMH and The Age apps will be available for download from the Google Play Store , and can be used on operating systems 3.1 and 3.2 for the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, the Motorola Xoom and the Asus Eee Pad Transformer 201.
Source: Fairfax Media press release
Not how I would play it. Invest in HTML, with an eye to 5, and publish to all platforms seamlessly.
Imagine the bloat creeping into Fairfax’s digital publishing arm with all the conflicting areas jostling for precedence. “But my device held 35% of the market last month!” “Well, mine is popular with the A-market.” “The CEO uses mine…”
HTML – it’ll still be around long after the current generation of IPad’s have been bricked by an Apple firmware update.
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