Publishers battle with the iPad, Wall Street Journal still jumps in the mix

The reports are out! Rupert Murdoch confirms the Wall Street Journal will be headed to the iPad. WSJ joins a slew of publishers, including the New York Times, Associated Press and Conde Naste, that are headed their way to the new cool device. Personally, I’m extremely excited to toss the traditional paper format in the recycle bin and start consuming my growth equity, technology and law content on this new exciting device. However, looks like these publishers are having heart burn as they are looking to support the gadget.

As publishers sell through the iTunes platform, they are going to begin losing control over their subscribers (something they value highly). Instead of receiving demographic information on their subscribers (credit card information, names and addresses), they will simply receive sales numbers and their cut of the revenue (70%). This lack of information will hurt the publisher’s power in selling advertising and partaking in influence marketing. Additionally, giving away 30% of a recurring revenue basis is probably something not terribly exciting to publishers as well.

Still, I’m sure these issues will get worked out. Murdoch feels the iPad is just the first in a number of devices that many will use to read newspapers on a daily basis. With that, the industry is going to have to play nice with one another in order for the publishers, advertisers, device manufacturers and consumers to get what they want.

-KKF