In a move to bulk up its digital offerings and earn some digital revenues, USA Today will launch a paid-for e-Edition in August. Editor-in-Chief, John Hillkirk, at a breakfast introducing the paper's new Publisher David Hunke, spoke of how they were "not absolutely convinced that [paid online content] works," but how USA Today would be "extraordinarily bullish" when it comes to mobile apps and devices.

The August launch of the e-Edition, which will cost $10 per month, could be just a first step in positioning the paper for a what Hunke predicted an "explosion" in the market for portable reading devices.

With US newspapers exploring all types of experimental revenue streams, Hunke said that he regrets having not originally charged for the iPhone app. He has a point: if readers get too used to not paying for content on mobile devices, they may expect mobile news to be free, a similar phenomenon as to what has happened with online content. At the same time, the two USA Today execs joined a growing host of US newspapers in expressing the need to find a way to charge for online content. USA Today has had a string of consulting sessions with the Fair Syndication Consortium and Journalism Online on the issue. Hunke laments that there is not "an easy day where everything flips to micropayments or subscription."

This raises the question: Are publishers, now scrambling to erect paywalls around their online content, going about the paid online model correctly? Consider devices and demographics. Suitable mobile reading devices have appeared very recently whereas consumers have had 15 years to accustom themselves to free online content. eReading devices such as the Kindle have been shown to be picking up with older generations more willing to pay for content. Smartphones are used by all age groups, are more personal, and increasingly come with applications that could facilitate charging methods. The Internet, on the other hand, has an open spirit which makes it difficult to lock readers into one publication or publisher as some companies such as News Corp would like to do. Should publishers be putting more focus into mobile money, learn what they can and then try to upsell their mobile readers to online news and services?

Source: The Guardian, Editor & Publisher