Power of mobile web for newspaper publishers

The power of mobile websites

Half a year ago I finally got myself a smartphone. Hooray for the “laggards” (referring to Rogers Adoption of Innovation studies)! Since then I’m able to browse the worldwide web on my mobile phone. My preferred mobile websites are social network sites and a website of a newspaper. Why? Both have done their best to create a website (or even an iPhone app) that is optimized for mobile devices.

The power of a good news website
I never read that financial-economic newspaper before. However, I started reading it on my mobile device for usability reasons. After a while I noticed that I also browsed their website for news on my laptop. I liked the website for providing news very fast, the e-book feature, etc. That website also offered the printed version for free for 2 months… I agreed… Now I read the printed version of a newspaper that I disliked before!

Reading on paper is a habit / ritual

The marketer of the newspaper truly hopes that I will enjoy the printed version that much that I will sign up for a year. Maybe a 2 months free trial will not be sufficient to get me as a full-time reader. Nonetheless, providing free time to learn to read on paper, to enjoy the paper, to make a habit of reading a printed version while drinking your morning coffee, etc… might prove to be effective. Maybe the romanticism of reading on “yellow, dirty” paper will empower the effect?

What’s the power of mobile web for a newspaper?
It got me reading a printed newspaper (for at least 2 months!) that I’d never bought or read before.