I saw this demoed at Adobe Max and was blown away. The experience they’re creating in AIR makes you want to read the newspaper. After seeing the demo I wanted to run out and subscribe. But some time has passed and the newness/hotness/gotta-have-it-ness of the application has worn off a bit and I’m left wondering, “Why would I pay $3.50 per week for content I can get completely free?’ Is the recreation of the newspaper-reading experience so good as to warrant a $3.50/wk expenditure?
The problem with this application strategy is that it hitches it’s wagons too heavily to the Newspaper Experience – not the content experience. Meaning that, is a dual-column, page-turning format the best for absorbing the content? Is it best for exploring content/concepts/archives/photos giving you related content, taking advantage of hyperlinks and rich media?
It may be an exact replica of the newspaper experience, but is that what customers really want? Mother economics will ultimately be the judge.