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Regional daily unveils new tablet e-edition

A regional daily newspaper has launched a new e-edition which is available on iPad and other tablet devices.

The Manchester Evening News has revealed the new app which it claims combines the latest cutting-edge technology with the best in local news, sport, entertainment and information for the Greater Manchester area.

It will replicate the newspaper’s print version, as well as featuring picture galleries and on-the-scene videos.

The app, which is free for the first 30 days and thereafter available for a monthly subscription of £7.99, will also include the MEN’s daily news live blog which directs readers towards instant news, information and traffic and travel.

Manchester Evening News has launched a new e-edition

Rob Irvine, editor-in-chief of MEN Media & Trinity Mirror Huddersfield, said: “The launch of our new e-edition is another step in the MEN’s long and proud history of being the first to deliver the news to the people of Manchester.

“It will be delivered straight to readers’ tablets first thing in the morning, giving them instant access to all the local news and unrivalled sports coverage.

“Just like the paper, the tablet edition will be loaded with special features and added extras such as The Way We Were, Jobs, Motors, the Saturday Extra magazine, We Love TV and the City Life guide to the week ahead.

“The launch of the e-edition again proves that for the people of Manchester, the MEN is the place to find out what’s going on.”

9 comments

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  • October 17, 2013 at 2:48 pm
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    Is it free or pay to view?
    If it’s free, it’s not going to do the MEN’s circulation figures any favours.
    But I guess they just don’t care about that as much as they used to.

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  • October 17, 2013 at 2:48 pm
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    Oh good. There’s another reason not to buy the paper – get it all for free!

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  • October 17, 2013 at 2:54 pm
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    I have yet to meet a senior manager in the regional press who gets e editions.

    There is so much wrong with that front page I don’t know where to start.

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  • October 17, 2013 at 3:06 pm
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    My understanding is that it’s not free but a subscription model.
    You get chance to ‘road test’ the e-edition free and then you have to pay.
    Let’s hope it works. At least this way the print will not get hurt anymore than it already is although reader/users/ consumers will ultimately choose!

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  • October 17, 2013 at 3:48 pm
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    My understanding is it’s free for a month, thereafter 35p per day for the tablet edition. Wonder whether the MEN’s website continues to be free in the same way it has been for years. If so, is there any good reason for anyone to pay for the tablet edition?
    Yet more evidence that the industry has lots of brilliant ways to deliver the product to people, but no cast-iron strategies for how to turn that into sufficient revenue to replace print.

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  • October 17, 2013 at 3:49 pm
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    Maybe more senior managers, and indeed those of us lower down the food chain, would be more willing to get e-editions if we weren’t expected to pay for them, which seems a bit insulting as we help produce the thing in the first place!
    And as for road testing, I suspect a lot of people are like myself and reluctant to give out our bank details etc before the “free” trial in case we forget to cancel etc

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  • October 18, 2013 at 8:55 am
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    I think the app is free, but the contenet will be paid for. It’s actually a much better model than the internet – both in terms of revenue generation and in terms of building a loyal readership that isn’t just dipping in via Google News.
    Apps like this encourage readers to explore the paper and read more.

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  • October 18, 2013 at 10:36 am
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    All these things are nice, but unless you put a cost on all content (ie make people pay for the website), your user will go for the line of least resistance. In this case, the free website. I know I won’t pay unless I have to, and if I have to it’s easier to fork out a few pence for the paper than go through the rigmarole of paying for a load of content on a daily basis that I don’t want. It’s not that people think they should get content for free, it’s that they have been used to getting it for free. The original short-sightedness is what’s causing all the problems now.

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  • October 18, 2013 at 11:59 am
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    It’s a flawed model unless they plan to close the main website or entirely denude it of news & sport. Why would people pay a subscription to download an e-edition when they can get the content for nowt online?
    The additional features don’t make it worthwhile I’m afraid.
    The content of the paid-for e-edition would have to be truly compelling, useful AND exclusive to make readers cough up. Otherwise they’ll simply get their news, sport etc – most of which is commodity information – from the myriad of other online media which cover greater Manchester. BBC anyone? That subscription is a massive barrier to take-up and, guess what, we don’t all spend our lives living, reading and consuming via apps. Office workers use PCs (so prefer simple online) when they’re on their lunch breaks at the desk and people on the move using handheld devices will go for the free platforms. I look forward to TM publishing the subscription numbers for their various e-edition experiments. a deeply flawed strategy

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