Thursday, July 9, 2009

All Things Digital iPhone App

Although the Wall Street journal already has an iPhone app, the recent All Things Digital D7 conference saw ATD launch a dedicated iPhone app of its own. The new app offers a distinct advantage over the WSJ version through deeper content and a free download. The ATD app delivers the same articles as the WSJ app, but also dedicated video and the ability to share content on Twitter and Facebook.

Features on the ATD app include:

  • Daily columns, blogs and video
  • Product reviews and analysis
  • Breaking Silicon Valley news
  • Galleries of D conference videos and photos
  • Post links directly to Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Email blogs and video links
  • Walt Mossberg’s Personal Technology, Mossberg’s Mailbox and Mossblog
  • Kara Swisher’s BoomTown
  • John Paczkowski’s Digital Daily
  • Peter Kafka’s MediaMemo
  • Katherine Boehret’s Mossberg Solution
  • Voices links to compelling stories from around the Web
The app is available free from the iPhone App Store here.

The Journal has introduced a host of offerings in the last year and has experimented with a number of different revenue models, so the move to release a free app, offering emhanced content, may seem odd. The WSJ is one of the few online publications that currently charges for its content (over $100 a year), but WSJ owner News Corp. is clearly creating a future market with this free offering. So while the app is currently free, logic would dictate that this will not continue. Once the app reaches a tipping point, introduction of a charge system will put people in the position of paying for convenience, rather then content. A cost that current trends would indicate they are more then willing to take.

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