IFRA

In a recent interview with US journalist Charlie Rose, Mathias Döpfner, chairman and CEO of Axel Springer, explains why he believes the iPad really marks a new era.

We have selected two interesting quotes from the long interview Mathias Döpfner gave to Charlie Rose on April 6:

– “I think the iPad is really delivering what we were all waiting for. It’s a device that enables you to visualize content in a very emotional way. It is an easy-to-use device. The price is a mass market price.

"It has – and this is very important – a model that is very easy to use. And it’s a cool device. So it’s simply cool to read journalism on this device. So I think that really will make a huge difference.

"We were proud to present with the American start of the iPad also at least one of our German newspapers. It’s 'Die Welt,' our broadsheet paper. And we offer that after a couple of weeks of promotion. We will offer it at a price that is only 10 percent below the price of the print product.

"And I think the advantages of the product on an iPad are obvious. You get the news earlier. You have the same visual attractiveness that you have of a newspaper. So I would not see any reason why people, why a traditional newspaper reader would not decide to do this.

"And another advantage of the iPad is also it is the first lean-back medium. You know, if you were working on your computer or even on the laptop, you lean forward like a typewriter. You lean forward. With the iPad you sit in the airplane and you relax and you lean back, you sit on your couch, you lean back.

"That’s the situation of a traditional magazine or newspaper reader. And so it really depends if we produce the content that is attractive to the people. If we do the right things on the digital distribution channels, I don’t see any reason why that should limit our possibilities to generate higher profits."

– “The iPad is attractive for consumers. This is something for somebody who wants to consume news, who wants to consume entertainment, who wants to be seduced, who wants to be informed, who wants to be entertained. That’s the new thing about it.

"And the consumer’s perspective is the perspective which matters for us. Of course we are disappointed that Flash is not working on the iPad.

"And, by the way, there are a lot of things that have to develop. If I’m saying we have to pray and thank Steve Jobs that he established this device and that he most likely saved the whole journalistic industry, at the same time, we should sit down and start renegotiation with the Apple people about, for example, the revenue share.

"I mean, 30 percent for Apple, it’s too much. But the competition among the devices will help. There is a Microsoft device, there will be a Google device, there will be the Amazon Kindle. That will help.”

You can read or view the full interview on the Charlie Rose Show Web site.