AP plans to roll-out subscription app for iPad


The Associated Press last week indicated that it plans to start charging consumers for its content. The change it seems will start with an app for Apple's iPad.

The AP CEO Tom Curley disclosed the plans for a paid subscription to the Financial Times last week. The move follows several other news outlets that are or will start charging for online news. The Wall Street Journal has charged for some time, and New York Times will be joining them in 2011, FT reports. While those publications are sources of much original reporting, wire service Reuters also indicated it too will start charging for content.

The effort it appears will stem from a new group formed at the AP called AP Gateway. The goal of the group is to assist AP media outlet members in marketing and selling their content on devices such as the iPad. The idea appears to provide assistance so individual news outlets won't have to each reinvent the wheel. Newspapers in particular have seen drastic cuts in both support and reporting staff over recent months. Several major local papers even ended print services and now only exist online.

It will be interesting to see what content the AP app delivers. We'll have to see whether it's just the omnipresent wire stories, more specialized original content, or specialized content from member outlets. As most news outlets use AP content to supplement their own, putting a price tag on AP content could help out individual news outlets charge fees for content, or at least help ad rates.

AP set to charge for news on iPad