A review of the iPad app for The Times

The app is a very nice representation of a traditional newspaper in a digital format. The problem is that it offers little extra to the regular paper. In order to stand out and justify the price, the advantages of the iPad need to be utilized. The point of transferring such a product to a digital platform is to provide a new way of consuming information and remove the drawbacks associated with the physical object:

• Same layout as newspaper without option to zoom.

• Fancy transitions between pages look good and make it nice to use, could become a bit

tiresome though.

• Offers far less content than the website and even less than the newspaper.

• It is portable and viewable offline.

• £9.99 a month for the Monday-Saturday papers.

• Contains most, but not all of the content in the normal paper.

• It tries to replicate the traditional newspaper format with a few additions such as interactive images and video.

The app does have potential where so many websites have failed in getting users to pay for digital content. Users of mobile devices seem to be prepared to pay for content that can be obtained for free on a desktop computer, provided it is tailored towards the device and employs the functionality it offers.

I think there is definitely potential to make an exciting and successful app, but The Times isn’t there yet. Although it is still very nice to view even a static magazine on the iPad screen, it needs to offer more interactive features, a layout and interface that take advantage of the iPad’s capabilities and at least as much content as is available on the website. If this is done it could easily offer revenue that has been lost from websites and help the publishing industry move forward and begin cashing in on digital content.

James Priestley, developer at Mubaloo

Read yesterday's review of the iPad app for Wired magazine by Ivan Sanchez, developer for Mubaloo