Last week, Apple announced its long-awaited content subscription model that can be deployed in apps sold on its App Store. Previously, if publishers wanted to post a new issue of a magazine, they would have to do a traditional “newsstand” model where a new app was posted to the App Store each month. Now, new issues can be purchased inside a central app through subscriptions… for a price. The controversy that comes along with Apple’s announcement is that they plan to take 30% of each subscription if it is sold through Apple’s system (it will not require a piece of the action if the subscription was generated outside of Apple’s system, such as on publisher’s or content provider’s direct Website). Apple will also require publishers to use uniform subscription pricing, meaning that if a subscription costs $9.99/month direct, it needs to be priced at $9.99/month through Apple, despite the 30% charge. This model affects not only newspaper and magazine publishers, but other paid subscription providers like Netflix, Hulu, Rhapsody, and even Amazon.com.

The day after Apple’s announcement, Google announced the launch of One Pass, its own subscription model for selling content on smartphones and tablets. With One Pass, Google aims to create a “pay once, view anywhere” model, where a user has access to all subscriptions via one account that can be viewed in a browser or in a mobile application. Payments will be administered through the Google Checkout online wallet service. In contrast to Apple’s 30% rake, Google plans to retain around 10% of each subscription depending on the publisher, although further information on how the share is determined is not currently available. Instead of just a straight subscription option, Google plans to offer more flexibility in its payment models, including micropayment services like pay-per-article, metered access, and more. While Apple’s model is exclusive to Apple product users, it remains to be seen how this model will be adopted outside of Google Android phones (after all, access via Web browser has no App Store approval barriers to break through).

There has been a healthy dose of criticism regarding the Apple model and a great deal of praise for Google’s model in response, although the reality is not that simple. In the view of many, it may be a brazen attempt by Apple to demand 30% of each subscription; many have in fact called it anti-competitive and have pointed to Apple’s stronghold in the music industry with iTunes as a potential result of what could happen. With Apple as an intermediary, publishers may fear losing a direct relationship with readers and further commoditization of the content they provide (publishers would receive high-level personal details of Apple-driven subscribers only if they opt-in to share that information).

Nevertheless, look at what Apple provides: access to millions of users that have already proven they have no problem dropping anywhere from a few dollars to hundreds of dollars on mobile apps. Ever since iTunes, the key for Apple has been to make these models as easy and seamless to participate in as possible, to which it still holds an advantage. In the end, especially for publishers, a 30% share to Apple might still be cheaper than the existing cost of new subscriber acquisition and even renewal. By offering premium content to existing subscribers on the iPhone or iPad, it may give readers one more crucial reason to renew. There is no doubt that Apple’s iAd platform fits within these subscriptions in some way, which have yielded impressive results for the advertisers that have participated thus far.

So what about Google? While One Pass can be tied to either the Web or a mobile application, there is obviously a strong play with enabling subscriptions for Android-based mobile devices. According to most recent estimates, Android phones have well-outpaced other mobile operating systems in market share due to Google’s strategy of making the OS available on a very wide variety of phones. While this strategy has led to a massive base for Google, it has also led to inconsistent experiences for users depending on the device used, as well as headaches for developers to try and account for the sheer variety of handsets supported. Could the experience be the Achilles’ heel for Google’s One Pass? Furthermore, newspaper publishers in particular have been hostile toward Google in general due to its news aggregation services. While Google brings thousands or even millions of eyeballs to their pages (and subsequently, ad revenue), many feel that aggregation has prevented paid content models from being employed for fear of losing those eyeballs. Perhaps this move coupled with Apple’s announcement will be cause for publishers to truly evaluate what models and partners are in their best interests to utilize.

Of course, these announcements within the past week are just the first steps in what will likely be the shift to legitimate paid content models for publishers and other content providers. While companies like Netflix have a good hold on how their models are effective (they started online with a paid model), it has been a bumpy road for magazine and newspaper publishers to figure out how to provide enough digital value for users to fork over money for something that was originally put online for free. Will a streamlined experience, instant updates, interactive features, and ubiquitous access to subscribed content finally solve this problem? Furthermore, if it does, how much are publishers willing to share for that access? These answers to these questions could lead to success for Apple or Google, but also hopefully to those publishers that have been struggling to find digital success.

Update: I noted earlier that Google’s subscription share would only consist of a 2% transaction fee associated with Google Checkout purchases. After further investigation, this information has been found to be incorrect. The post has been updated to reflect that Google has been quoted as saying that its subscription share will be around 10% depending on the publisher, but it did not elaborate on those plans. Additional details are not yet available.

My travels take me from coast to coast and north to south here in North America working with over 100 clients in 200 locations per year. From ten-employee in-plants to billion dollar corporations, there are common themes that seem from my perspective to permeate every facet of the paper and print-space.

Necessity may be the Mother of invention, but it’s also the Mother of reduction, the Mother of consolidation and ultimately, the Mother of efficiency. The past few years of recessionary behavior has proven to be a Petri dish of sorts that prove this hypothesis.

Common to every nearly enterprise is the realization that certain functions have had to be reduced or eliminated in order to survive. On the M&A level this means economy of scale and centralization of management, marketing, accounting and human resource functions. Within the same organization, lower level elimination of redundant or non-value added positions has become the norm. I’ve walked in the door of many a facility where “ring the bell/buzzer/phone” for front desk service is now in force where before, the duty of the receptionist was just that; to receive.

If there is a front desk person it is frequently a CSR or AR/AP employee whose new workspace happens to be visibly at the front door of the establishment. The same goes with many other positions where value is perceived as being intangible and can therefore be eliminated and delegated internally to the wearers of many hats who are any enterprise’s new survivor class.

The other trend I’ve seen is that along with staff reduction coinciding with the amount of work coming through the door, where say a full 3 shift operation has been forced down to 2, a new and interesting problem has arisen. When the workload is steady, which is a lowered expectation these days, the available labor pool is being tailored to be able to handle the volume, however now there seems to be more of an optimistic trend among print buyers and advertisers.

It’s what I call the “loosening of the purse-strings syndrome.” As the economy and consumer confidence levels elevate slightly, print buyers are a bit more confident and optimistic. Over the past six to twelve months, my clients, generically now have the problem of not having labor available for those spikes in volume when they occur. In a way this is a good problem to have, since they now feel like they have weathered the economic storm and are now emerging as a more efficient enterprise through all their tribulations.

In some markets an interesting phenomenon is taking place. Where similar facilities with similar capabilities and equipment have either survived or failed, there is a glut of skilled labor. In some cases these spikes are handled by employees working for more than one company-  not that this hasn’t always happened to some degree. It just seems that now there are a lot more skilled operators willing and/or able to be engaged on-call. The problem here is that this is usually more of a mature labor pool, so with regard to longevity, an arrangement such as this is not self-sustaining. No one seems to want to be so optimistic as to ramp back up to former levels, so this conundrum will continue for the foreseeable future.

I don’t pretend to be an economist. I’ll leave that job to Dr. Joe. That said, I do ask the same basic questions wherever I go. How’s business? Have you had layoffs or reductions in the past year and if so, by how much? Have things stabilized? Are you bringing staff back on? Are your customers a bit more optimistic? Are you?

Of course the answers vary, but on average they are: tolerable; yes; yes; yes; yes; yes. It is encouraging if anything, that there is a pervasive optimism out there. In my book optimism equals confidence. Confidence equals risk-taking, albeit cautiously, risk-taking equals spending. Spending of course raises the economic tide overall, and a rising tide lifts all boats.

So ultimately in the printing industry, especially in the areas of growth such as digital printing and integrated media, I’d like to believe that because of all this spending on infrastructure, equipment and new labor, i.e. emerging skill sets, are about to take a quantum leap based on the demand for printing in our brave new world. A renaissance if you will.

To move forward and be the cause of change, mills, merchants, printers and brokers must again refocus their marketing efforts on a now more optimistic print-buying public, who will have a bit more money to spend as long as they are convinced of the ROI once they have been educated, again, by their vendors of the benefits of print.

So, in the end, you can talk about GDP, unemployment, print shipments and the calculated risks of either doing or not doing something to change the game all day long. All I’m saying to sum this all up is that anecdotally, we seem to collectively be climbing out of a casualty-ridden hole, a bit wiser, a bit stronger, but non-the-less gun-shy. In many cases the casualties have been necessary. It got rid of some of the low-ballers to hopefully create a more level playing field where the survivors can compete fairly on a level playing field, charge a fair price and continue to continue on now that the ball is rolling again.

What do you think?

“Magazine media companies are rapidly embracing cross-platform business models that incorporate print, digital and other ways of providing content to consumers,” said Jack Griffin, incoming Chair of MPA, and CEO of Time Inc. “MPA’s new identity expresses our strong belief that, together, all of these forms collectively express what it means to be a magazine media company.”

Added Nina Link, MPA President and CEO, “The essence of what consumers love about magazines – the immersive experience, the curated content, the sense of community and the award-winning photography and design – is now being enhanced by technologies and devices that support high definition imagery, video animation, mobile e-reading and Web access. The future of magazine reading is undergoing a transformation; audiences and advertisers now interact with magazine brands on so many different levels and platforms. MPA’s identity simply had to reflect this fact.”  

MPA will officially launch its new name and logo to its membership at the annual American Magazine Conference (AMC) on Monday, October 4, in Chicago – the same week as GraphExpo descends on Chicago.

MPA will also premiere a new series of videos at AMC called “Magazine Media Minutes.” Produced by the editors of various magazine titles, these mini-documentaries spotlight how innovative magazine titles are creating content and brand experiences across a variety of media platforms.  Participating magazines include Food & Wine, Glamour, GQ, Men’s Health, More, Natural Home, People, Popular Mechanics, Real Simple, Runner’s World and Yoga Journal. The videos are available on a special MPA YouTube channel at www.magazine.org/mmm. Most of these videos talk about how new media is better than print – can you find me one that doesn’t?

“In defining our business as magazine media we are explicitly focusing MPA’s leadership agenda on promoting magazine brands and their unique relationships with consumers across all platforms,” said John Q. Griffin, outgoing MPA Chair and President of National Geographic Publishing Group.

All platforms, including print? Hmmmm. Maybe we should take a bunch of GraphExpo folks on a  field trip over to the AMC next week . . .

Editors Weblog outlines the production steps:

On the client’s side the process is very simple. After signing up for a short-term subscription (more on that later), they have until 2 p.m. to choose their news sources for the following morning’s paper. On Niiu’s website they can select from a wide variety of publications and online sources; from national, local or international newspapers like the New York Times, or internet news sources and blogs. A 24-page personalized paper, researched from and composed of their choices, then appears on the subscriber’s doorstep the next morning.

The business is based on strategic partnerships with content creators and print service providers to handle everything from content creation to the Web portal to printing and distribution.

According to one of the founders, a printed version made the most sense, “We asked this target group which is the most comfortable and which is the best distribution channel; is it an e-paper, is it only on mobile, is it printed or online? The feedback was that for now, paper is still the best distribution channel.” However they pointed out that future offerings could be delivered to mobile phones or e-paper devices.

Niiu’s website is located at http://www.niiu.de/ (German only).

Niiu’s publishing model sounds very similar to what the Knight News Challenge funded project Printcasting is building: an easy to use interface that “allow individuals to easily create ad-supported, customized publications with a mix of local news and information”

NW: Mal, most people probably don’t think of Océ as having a history in inkjet printing, yet you’ve introduced several models of the JetStream family in a bit over a year and a half. But you haven’t done this on your own. Tell me about the alliance with Miyakoshi that has led to the JetStream line.

MB: Let me answer that in a couple of steps. First, Océ actually has developed a lot of inkjet technology and provided innovation and industry leadership in a number of markets. Our first inkjet products came to market almost 15 years ago. The wide format side of the company has been very successful and has the leading market share in some segments of wide and superwide format printing. Some machines, like the Arizona line of flatbed printers that can also print roll-to-roll, have won awards for innovation and quality. Last year at drupa I’m sure you saw our CrystalPoint solid toner technology which can be jetted onto a wide variety of substrates. At GraphExpo 2008, the Océ Colorwave 600 with Océ CrystalPoint technology won a Must See ‘Em award and this product has been recognized once again for PRINT 09 with a Must See ‘Em Encore award. Océ R&D developed and we manufacture these products. Of course, these wide format machines address a different market and at lower speeds than a production press, but the underlying knowledge of inkjet technology, chemistry, color, and material science has been very instrumental as we developed the JetStream family.

Second, our relationship with Miyakoshi is very much a strategic alliance that draws on the strength of both companies. Miyakoshi is a well-known offset press manufacturer that was developing an inkjet technology. We’ve brought our expertise in inkjet, color management, controllers, security, and error recovery systems for high-speed, high-volume digital printing. The win-win is that JetStream is built like a press for heavy duty use, our SRA MP [Massively Parallel] front-end can handle every aspect of the data in full color, and can be easily integrated into any PRISMA-based system as just another print engine.

NW: So Miyakoshi builds the press and Océ does the controller. To what extent has Océ been involved in machine design and engineering?

MB: It depends on the press. With the JetStream 1000, Océ and Miyakoshi worked closely to jointly design the product. So together we drew on our expertise in paper transport systems to create a paper path that would give us the compact design we needed but still achieved our speed and throughput targets. Miyakoshi designed and built the type of frame and overall design needed to make this press a reality. Meanwhile, our software and controller teams made sure the DFE would be robust enough to handle the high print volume customers will expect on the press. And we’ve already talked about our innovation with jettable MICR ink.

NW: Talk to me about software and what it takes to operate one of your inkjet systems.

MB: All our JetStream presses run the same PRISMA job management and workflow software as our toner-based presses. Of course with JetStream there are some additional controls for color management, but these are similar to those used on our ColorStream family of continuous feed toner-based presses. While the mechanical processes for running and maintaining the machines vary, the workflow software that manages the jobs through the production process is the same whether it’s on a monochrome cut-sheet system like a VarioPrint 6250, a ColorStream 10000 or one of the JetStream family. This makes it easy for customers to cross-train equipment operators and help contain staffing costs. But you know, it goes beyond operating the machines. You have to be profitable. We’ll be making some exciting announcement at PRINT 09 about some new software that will help printers price inkjet applications more profitably.

Leveraging its legacy and expertise make sense but there’s still more to a successful digital press than speeds and feeds. It’s building the volume that makes a system profitable. And those are points are what we talk about next time.

The Printed Blog published a printed version of internet-based content twice a day. Content was selected based on the votes of readers and their geographic location. In its short existence, the service produced 16 issues, distributed 80,000 print copies, and 100,000 copies downloaded.

The Press Release from Printcasting:

Printcasting Expands to More U.S. Cities Through Partnerships

(Bakersfield, Calif. June 25, 2009) Today Printcasting (http://www.printcasting.com), a democratized publishing technology funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and The Bakersfield Californian, announced that it’s expanding service to more cities across the United States through partnerships. Among the new cities are Denver and Boulder, Colo.; Los Angeles, Calif.; and the San Francisco Bay area.

New city-focused Printcasting sites are launching throughout the year in partnership with other local newspapers and organizations. The first partner is the targeted publishing group of MediaNews Group, which owns 54 daily newspapers in 11 states, including The Denver Post and San Jose Mercury News.

Printcasting (http://www.printcasting.com) allows anyone to be a publisher by tying online content to publication templates which can be printed out and viewed on the Web and mobile devices. By going to Printcasting.com, anyone can quickly create a self-updating, printable magazine that features their own content, as well as content from participating news providers and bloggers. Target users range from individuals who are passionate about local interests, to organizations such as schools and homeowners’ associations, to professional publishers who are building a portfolio of targeted niche products. They can also make money from their publications through an integrated self-serve advertising tool that small local businesses can use to create highly targeted ads.

The Printcasting project is funded by an $837,000 grant from the Knight News Challenge – which is a five-year, $25 million contest that seeks to find new models for local news and information that use digital technology. Printcasting has been profiled in Business Week and The Miami Herald, and has been called a “Must-Do Strategy” by the World Association of Newspapers.

The first Printcasting pilot site launched in Bakersfield, Calif., in late March in conjunction with The Bakersfield Californian newspaper. Since then, hundreds of people have created magazines (called “Printcasts”). In addition, The Californian plans to use the site to create its own topically oriented niche publications.

“We’re excited to take what’s worked in Bakersfield and see how it plays out elsewhere,” said Dan Pacheco, Printcasting’s founder and Senior Product Manager at The Californian. The project has received interest by people in almost every continent, and especially from newspapers.

“We’ve known for some time that local readers and advertisers respond well to printed content as long as it speaks to their unique interests. This started with citizen-journalism pioneer The Bakersfield Voice in 2004, and was then proven with Bakotopia.com, which provides content for the ad-supported Bakotopia Magazine.”

MediaNews Group, which also has its own experiments with “Individuated News,” will be using Printcasting initially as an engine for its own staff to create niche magazines that use content from MediaNews Group writers, supplemented with content from local bloggers. “By using Printcasting, it’s easier and less expensive to create new magazines and see how they resonate with an audience before investing more time and money,” said Peter Vandevanter, MediaNews Group’s Vice President of Targeted Products.

MediaNews Group has also agreed to make its own content available to citizen publishers, and to promote Printcasting in its markets.

Pacheco said that early experiments in digital-print hybrid magazines in Bakersfield, such as Bakotopia.com and Bakotopia Magazine, show that there is money to be made in niche publications. However, you need a lot of them to replace the revenue that daily newspapers have lost in recent years. “We think one way to do that is to turn the publishing role over to people in your community, and get your salespeople to promote a self-serve advertising tool. This increases your profit margins by decreasing your costs,” Pacheco said.

Profit isn’t limited to newspapers, either. One unique aspect of Printcasting is that ad revenue is shared with participating citizen publishers and content providers. “We’re starting out by sharing 60% of the revenue directly with publishers – the people who put the most time, effort and money into promoting their publications,” Pacheco said. In addition, content contributors receive 30% of all ad revenue on the network, in proportion to how often their content is used.

The Printcasting network keeps only 10% of that ad revenue for operating expenses. “In keeping with the spirit of the Knight News Challenge, our primary goal is to find a sustainable way to allow news and information to be shared within local communities. Our portion will only ever be high enough to allow us to keep the network going and expand to cities that are a good fit for the product,” Pacheco said.

Printcasting’s revenue sharing system creates unique opportunities for companies such as newspaper publishers that already have people who specialize in content, publishing, marketing and sales. The more they put into the product, the higher their reward, Pacheco said.

“We didn’t originally design Printcasting for newspapers to use internally, but just like citizen publishers, they’re permitted and encouraged to use it to lower their production costs – and maybe even make some money from underutilized content,” Pacheco said.

Because newspapers are seen as content experts where they live, Pacheco said that it’s in their interest to establish an early lead with Printcasting by seeding their markets with their own local content and magazines. “If they put time and money into printing and distributing their magazines, more people will read them and they will be able to charge more for advertising. And if citizen publishers use newspapers’ content to fill the pages of their own Printcasts, the newspapers will get a share of those publishers’ ad revenue. It’s a win-win scenario no matter how you look at it,” Pacheco said.

Already there are condensed versions of several international newspapers, digitally printed and distributed primarily to hotels and airlines. On long flights, the newspapers being read often contain the stories that will be in the morning paper in the destination cities, helping business travelers stay current. That’s admittedly something of a niche market, but let’s take it a step further.

Imagine you’re from Manchester, England and vacationing in Tuscany. You pick up a copy of the Guardian and while reading the latest about Manchester United you find many of the ads to be primarily for Tuscan eateries, tour guides and other businesses that can make your trip more enjoyable.

Or maybe you’re a printer in the United States. You know there are neighborhoods in your city peopled by immigrants from Romania and the Czech Republic, all hungry for news from home. So you work with the newspapers to obtain the digital files and produce the paper for local distribution— with ads for local businesses.

There’s no question that ad pages are dwindling, yet newspaper advertising is still a relatively low-cost way to reach a wide audience. But suppose ads and free-standing inserts were based on zip codes and demographics? Newspapers have long had sections targeting specific circulation areas, replete with ads for local businesses. But imagine such targeting being based on clusters of zip codes so that ads vary based on where the paper was sold or delivered. Improved targeting can make it even more effective if used, for example, in conjunction with a cross-media campaign that points readers to web landing pages that enable tracking and follow-up. Yes, this ads complexity and requires advertisers’ marketing departments to think differently, but it makes newspapers a richer resource and adds value to them as an advertising medium. It means that newspapers and advertisers alike have to change the way they think, but it’s hardly an insurmountable barrier or insoluble problem.

There’s no question that newspapers are going to change. And there’s no doubt that many in the U.S. are going to fail. But if newspaper publishers join the 21st century and change how they think about their business, they can revitalize their operations and redefine their enterprise. Digital print, both toner and inkjet technologies, combined with an array of readily available software, can help make this a reality. Newspapers aren’t dead, or even dying. But many need an injection of imagination and digital technology to reinvent them as a 21st century media.

InfoTrends recently conducted an extensive study to understand present and future digital print applications within the newspaper industry. The result of our research can be summed up in The Emerging Digital Printing Opportunity in Newspaper Publishing, which details:

• - An overview of the newspaper industry
• - Current newspaper production workflow
• - The case for moving to digital newspaper production
• - Existing and future applications of digital newspaper production
• - Adoption challenges (hardware, software, and recycling considerations)
• - Recommendations for greater digital print adoption with newspaper

As existing newspaper publishers think about new ways to bring back print advertising dollars, they need to look not only at online models, but also how they can differentiate their print offerings. Digital printing can be utilized not only as a means for short-run production, but also for personalized content and targeted advertising. One of the things that we found when talking with some newspaper publishers is that there’s a lack of awareness about the possibilities that digital printing can offer to newspaper production. Market education is key. Reports like this one, as well as digital printing hardware vendors providing clear proof-of-concept applications and case studies of digital newspaper production successes can give a glimpse to newspaper publishers about new opportunities they can take advantage of.

So what are your thoughts on digital printing for newspaper production? Let us know.

Yesterday, I got a chance to test it out in a more public venue in a column at PBS.org/mediashift. The title, chosen by the editor, is ‘Printernet’ Vision Brings Custom Print Publications to Masses”

The general tenor over there is that Print is Dead, newspapers have to go online, and other internet bedazzled visions of the future of journalism. I’m posting here in the hope of getting some feedback from my esteemed colleagues in Print, where I don’t have to take a defensive stance proving that the sky is not falling and print is not dead.

From a PR point of view the notion is “Now that the internet is in place, the printernet is ready to emerge.’ That’s for the kids in school to get them to be excited about Print.

From the professional point of view,”. . . this so-called “printernet” can have the same benefits as the Internet — massive parallel manufacturing with standards-based interfaces, real time production information and easy access for everyone. Each printer — the combination of the machinery and the intelligence that manages the machinery — is a print output node.”

My hypothesis is that one of the things that has kept us from seeing the emerging role for Print, is that we’ve been using old thought models that don’t capture a new environment. The facts on the ground are that the Eurocentric era of the global economy is coming to close and that new value in the form of previously impossible customer experiences are enabled by the network, not by stand alone printing companies.

While I was researching the column I came across pediapress.com in Germany. They’ve released Open Source software to automatically go from wikipedia pages to PDF,ODF, and XML. They are monetizing their invention by selling Wikipedia Printed books through their website. Just recently they’ve expanded from German to the other major European languages.

I think wikis have become the platform of choice for organizing content on the web. PBwiki.com, a start-up, says they are doing enterprise content management for over 200,000 businesses and 100′s of thousands of schools. Meanwhile, Newspapers and physical communities are organizing their content in wikis.

Given that my focus is high school education in the States, I think I’m seeing textbooks being replaced by WikiBooks and WikiNewspapers. The new experience will be cheaper, faster and much more effective in getting students to learn to love to learn.

I keep turning it over and over, and I can’t see why it wouldn’t work.

Any thoughts?