Trinity Mirror is to launch iPhone applications for its national daily papers and its specialist websites 3am.co.uk and Mirrorfootball.co.uk.
The publisher will provide apps for its Daily Record and Daily Mirror newspapers free of charge; however it intends to charge a fee – which is yet to be set – for the website apps when they launch in the New Year.
Additional apps for a number of Trinity Mirror’s regional newspapers will be launched later in 2010, the company said today.
Rick Gleave, head of interactive and mobile at Trinity Mirror, said: “There are over one million iPhones in use in the UK at the moment and now that the handset is available across a number of network operators the number of subscribers will increase so this is the perfect time for Trinity Mirror’s portfolio of apps to hit the market.
“Brands have demonstrated that it is possible to successfully position themselves in both the mobile internet market and applications market and benefit from both.
“We’re confident that these apps can increase our brands’ reach and expose them to a new user base. Meanwhile advertisers will benefit from the enhanced user experience that the iPhone offers coupled with the millions of visitors pulled in by the App Store.”
The announcement follows the launch earlier this week of an iPhone application by The Guardian. Its application was priced £2.39 for the download, with 9,000 paying customers in its first two days.
Richard Titus, former BBC mobile controller turned Associated Northcliffe Digital CEO, told Paid Content today that AND’s parent company, Daily Mail & General Trust, intended to launch 15 new apps in the first-half of next year – with apps for Mail Online, Metro.co.uk some Northcliffe regional titles planned for initial launch.
Publishers are increasingly looking to downloadable applications as a way to make money online. The independent, The Financial Times and The Telegraph already have iPhone applications to push their digital content.
The Telegraph’s free app has now been downloaded 300,000 times and with executives claiming it has already returned ten times its launch costs through sponsorship deals with Cisco and Dell.
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