The Associated Press announced that they are working on an app for the iPad.  According to the AP article by Sandy Shore and Michael Tietke, the iPad App will show custom packages of headlines, stories, photos and video from the AP and from newspapers and broadcasters that choose to contribute their content and share the revenue.  AP members might even be able to use the same system to have their own iPad App featuring their own content.  The AP is starting a new business unit named AP Gateway that’s primary focus is expanding AP mobile products.  One of the first projects for AP Gateway will be the app for the iPad.

The AP will be looking for ways to generate revenue with their business unit.  It is not clear yet whether the iPad App revenue will be generated by charging users a subscription fee, having advertisements, charging for the app, or some combination of the three.

According to the AP article, William Dean Singleton, who heads newspaper publisher MediaNews Group and is chairman of the AP board, said, “AP is proposing a change that is exciting, historic and even breathtaking. After 164 years, AP sees a way to extend the power of the cooperative to become a revenue-generating engine.”

The digital age has been unkind to the newspaper industry, and it remains to be seen if print media can reinvent itself for the digital age.  The AP is hopeful that users will pay for content that is delivered in an easy package that they could otherwise get for free on the web.  The hope is the convenience of having the news you want to read in an app is worth the trade-off of taking the time to search for news on the web.

Tom Curley, the AP’s chief executive, believes that the iPad is just the device that they have been waiting for.  ”At last, we truly will be able to deliver the right content to the right people at the right time to the right device,” Curley said. “We must seize this opportunity to reinvigorate our business models as well as our journalism.”

He went on to say, “For publishers, it is likely the defining moment.”

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