Newspaper industry

Apple’s Newsstand causes surge in newspaper app downloads

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Alan Gardner October 24, 2011 1 minute 1 comment

Poynter reports that the release of the latest operating system (iOS 5) for Apple’s iPad and iPhone has caused a surge downloads for newspapers. The new OS comes with a new app called Newsstand where users can subscribe to magazines and newspapers. One of the examples cited was the NYTimes app which saw 189,000 new downloads compared to 27,000 the week before.

Newsstand has its own section of the iTunes App Store, which makes it easier for niche and obscure publishers to find their audiences. That’s helpful, but I expect the benefit will diminish over time as the 286 current Newsstand apps are joined by hundreds or thousands more.

Newsstand collects all your publications in one place, instead of scattering icons across multiple home screens. It also enables apps to download fresh content “in the background,” so it’s already there before a user opens an app.

It should be noted that downloads don’t always equate to subscriptions.