Will newspapers go mobile?

Websites are trying to reinvent themselves by going mobile. Corporations are trying to reinvent themselves by going mobile. Advertisers are trying to reinvent themselves by going mobile. Banks are trying to reinvent themselves by going mobile. What’s next on the list? Newspapers, they say.

When you look at the current scenario, it looks like an obvious transition for newspapers. The circulation is declining by the day as people are more and more getting used to the content available on the internet and the mobile phone. In this case, newspapers hardly have a choice.

Fortunately, the bigwigs of the newspaper world have realized the need for this transition. Already, we have seen Associated Content launch its mobile portal and I have no doubt it will be followed by other news networks. The writing is on the wall. With 3.3 billion active users, mobile market is the biggest market there is. Realizing this, U.S. mobile carriers have invested an astonishing $40 billion to retool themselves according to the new mobile age.

Currently, more than 30% of mobile users surf the internet on their mobile phone. The number is rapidly rising as new mobile users these days mostly go for web enabled mobile phones. With this being the case, newspapers have to find a way to get into the mobile phone at any cost.

The newspaper, fortunately, is almost tailor made for a medium like mobile phone. The specialty of newspapers lies in their ability to provide local content, which is exactly what mobile users want. The more local your data is, the better it will be for the users, since most of them use their mobile phone to find out local information like weather, local events, and so on. So, the transition will be seamless, so to speak. When newspapers go mobile, it will also mean a huge opportunity for mobile advertisers to be able to display highly targeted ads along with the local news content.

What needs to be done – this everyone seems to know. When will it get done? That’s the question. Don’t you agree?

Categories: All things mobile phones, Mobile Web.

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