The iPad and the Aus: our first look.

2 Responses

I miss newspapers.

When I was a kid, my parents owned a coffee shop in Adelaide and every morning before school, I would put out the papers while they were still warm.  I miss the tactile sensation of the paper beneath my fingers as I once flicked through pages. I miss the typography, I miss the columns and I miss the mastheads next to each other on the news stand like flags asking you to pick a team.

I haven’t purchased a newspaper in some time now. There doesn’t seem much point, I read my breaking news on my phone as I ride the bus in the morning and browse news sites through the day. It seems I’m not the only one to have shifted mediums.

I heard The Australian would be the first Aussie masthead to launch an app for the iPad and I was very eager to try it out.

I had some joy in staking out the overly busy Apple store in Sydney. Since I had already hooked up an appointment with an iPad benefactor I was mostly there to hear what Apple had to say. Perhaps there was something about my manner (perhaps Apple just has pathologically attentive customer service) because I was whisked upstairs by staff member who talked me through some of the apps. Sadly The Australian app isn’t part of their showcase, however the Times online is – so we had a look through that instead. Since this was a showcase app I’m told it didn’t have full features for me to play with.

Dropdown menus to select sections and the touch screen means navigating digital news in a traditional format. Breaking news sweeps in just as it might on your PC browser or your iPhone. The ‘Front page’ looks much more like the digital edition than the hard copy – however the transition is in the functionality. The contents fall from drop down menus and a single tap brings up the new section.

While looking at world news, a tap on the lead picture enlarges a high resolution image. I can imagine photojournalism taking on a whole new element as suddenly I have an enhanced tactile experience with the images of the day.

I was disappointed to find Letters to the Editor has yet to include (what I thought was) an obvious functionality. I had hoped the application would plug into my email automatically. At this stage it seems you still need to exit, open your email, enter the editor’s email address, write your letter and send – exactly as you do now. This seems a missed opportunity for the Fourth Estate, I had hoped writing in to the Letters section to be streamlined, and (although I anticipate comments on articles will function much as they do on my current online edition).

Later that night I had a play with the iPad and ‘The Australian’ app. The Front Page matched the digital edition, but not the hardcopy.  A quick look through Business – I found it frustrating to not be able to enlarge tables or polls. I can appreciate the feeds for stock indices and markets being a hit – but not so different from the data we already receive on a mobile device.

My benefactor was even kind enough to allow me to stay up to see if news changed with the overnight editions. It seems the browser will ‘check’ for breaking news, however it seems it is still up to the newsroom to file at their discretion. For now, overnight news still follows the traditional deadlines and the page updates at around 6 am.

I was concerned about rumours that full page ads blocking readers from accessing articles. When I accessed the International section a ‘full page’ ad appeared – however a single tap turned the page. If this had been hard copy I’d still simply turn the page. Certainly less invasive than animations which jump around while I’m trying to navigate from my PC.

I’m hoping to reclaim my newspapers, the format I first fell in love with. I hope the iPad will restore the tactile sensation of discovering the day’s events.  With the ability to interact with the actual text and content – the iPad holds a lot of promise for the user experience.

I guess now it’s up to the publishers and their developers to deliver on that promise.

Donna Hogan is an intern with Reading Room. You can find her on twitter, or send her an email.