iPAD DEBUTS IN THAILAND, MORE MAG APPS
The iPad made its official debut in Thailand yesterday, and on the same day more locally-produced magazines announced launches of bespoke versions of their print publications.
Prices from the Apple store in Thailand are THB 15,900 for a 16MB version up to THB 21,900 for a 64MB version, although the iPad has been available for sale at places like MBK for a number of months. The Bangkok Bugle understands some 40,000 iPads had been sold in Thailand prior to the official launch.
Richard Barrow's MyThailandBlog includes a list of Thai magazines with iPad apps, which includes newly launched versions of Golf Digest, OK! Magazine, Seventeen, Dichan, Madame Figaro and Men's Health.
With the Thai language licensed edition of Men's Health, published by Media Transasia, readers can download a free trial copy of the October edition, and then purchase the current edition through iTunes for US$2.99 (THB 89). The cover price for this magazine is THB 100, and here's the problem. I am not convinced there is a big enough market and a big enough financial incentive for buyers to switch to iPad editions in big numbers.
One big advantage, of course, is that Thai readers overseas now have access to a growing range of locally produced titles, and perhaps that's where the majority of readers will come from. That might sound good however local advertisers, who will be contributing to the majority of revenue to support these new editions, will not be too willing to spend money getting eyeballs from readers who are unable to buy their products or services.
Many publishers rushed to launch 'page-flipping' editions of their print publications several years ago believing that technology was going to revolutionise the publishing industry. I accept the iPad has the potential to be game-changing, but I do not believe Thailand's publishing industry, and most importantly its readers, are ready for a large scale migration from print.
1 comments:
The only way for publishers to enter this market in Thailand is to make their iPad magazine apps "free" with in app advertising. I have many Thai colleagues who have iPads - the first thing they do is jailbreak, usually for a small fee in MBK/Pantip - and then load hundreds of applications and games (often out-of-date) for free. I don't know anyone who has an iTunes account and downloads paid apps.
On the few occasions I have asked why they don't pay for up-to-date apps from the App store, the response is always "I paid a lot of money for the iPad so the software and games should be free".
Indeed the main reason for jailbreaking in the first place is to be able to download and install apps and games for free from torrent sites, including full pdf scans of popular magazines.
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