is iPad just ‘print plus’?

An interesting publishing debate is going on since Apple launched the iPad. All major publishers, media agencies and advertisers are closely studying how consumers are using this new tool. Trying to figure out how they can benefit from they way content is consumed and how interaction takes place in that process.

How will this new pattern of content consumption influence their buying and selling of magazine and newspaper ads on this new device? Is it a threat or opportunity? Are ads worth more or just less? Are you selling or buying ads in fixed combination with print or just separate?

The first sponsors didn’t wait for the outcome and just jumped on the iPad publishing bandwagon. Like Marriott’s Courtyard Hotels joining USA Today. USA Today, is selling iPad ads completely separately. Its iPad edition, which is already available, will be free to consumers for three months, courtesy of a sponsorship sold on its own to Courtyard by Marriott. The paper is free for hotel visitors, so it will be interesting to see if they can get them pay for it after the three months are over.

“These (print and iPad) effectively are going to be very different media,” argued David Hunke, president and publisher of USA Today. ”

“For us it probably makes sense to have some flexibility with that,” said Gini Gladstone, senior director for Courtyard marketing. “Because we’re buying less print and more digital over time, it would be difficult for us to say ‘Let’s bundle those together.'”