CNN: Our iPhone app is "not a hobby"
Ok, CNN, we get it -- you care about this one. It does sound like they're making a major push in terms of making their content interactive on the iPhone, but on the other hand, maybe they're just trying to sell you on the "premium" price: $1.99, with (we're told) non-intrusive advertising included. Obviously, $2 is cheap, but on the other hand, especially with advertising both from the network itself and outside clients, the crankiest of App Store browsers will probably flinch at it a little bit. If you are interested, however, CNN would love to take your money: their app should be available in the App Store as soon as Apple lets it through.
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CNN chatted with our good friends at DLS about the news network's iPhone app (scheduled to hit an App Store near you very soon), and it...
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Ugh that looks like crap. The free USA Today app looks 10x better.
September 29 2009 at 7:26 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Replyok, the cnn money app is free and available in canada but this isn't? what's up with that?
September 29 2009 at 5:44 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyNo search or the ability to get older news articles....and by older, I mean from earlier today.
September 29 2009 at 4:52 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyJust purchased the app and I think the live video from CNN.com is worth the purchase alone. on 3G is is perfectly clear with no hickups from not enough bandwidth. 5 Star App!
September 29 2009 at 3:17 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyWait. $2 AND I get to upload content to THEM through iReport? Back in the day if I got a shot of Angelina boinking Brad's younger brother, I could shop it around to the media for thousands of dollars. Now I have to pay CNN for the privilege of GIVING them the rights to my images so THEY can make money off of my hard work sneaking into Angelina's bedroom.
September 29 2009 at 2:02 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply"CNN even says they want to add more to the app in the future, including some iReport-style news delivery functions, so people with iPhones out in the world can send news in as quickly as possible."
Great, another way for me to find out what "slimeball323" has to say about the news. Just what I needed to hear...
If it were a real news source and not CNN I'd go for it.
September 29 2009 at 9:23 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyI will NOT pay to see ads.
September 29 2009 at 9:16 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyThe $2 covers app development and to make it profitable; the ads cover the continual cost of bandwidth. I'm not sure why people's panties are in a bunch about ads. This isn't the usual "I could just have users aggregate my existing RSS feed but I'd rather write an app for the App Store instead" mentality. It includes many (and from the looks of it, all or almost all) of the multimedia functions of the standalone site, which since there's no Flash on the iPhone, it's a great alternative to get CNN's media content, and is intuitive with the phone's interface.
Please I mean come on, no one is forcing you to download this to your iPhone or iPT. If you don't like the app, use RSS and/or Safari.
"The $2 covers app development and to make it profitable; the ads cover the continual cost of bandwidth..."
1. In all likelihood the ads will cover BOTH the cost of bandwidth and app development. I would not be agree that this app can't be monetized by either ads alone or a higher app price.
2. So charge 4.99 and leave the ads off of the program. Or conversely, make the program free and place tons of ads on it.
3. Nobody expects an app to come along like this without a price, or to lack profitability, the hope is that they make a ton of money. But what they don't expect is the model of paid apps being free or non-paid apps having ads to be upended, and most especially made to feel cheap for not appreciating or valuing this unwelcome flip.
4. Having an iPhone app will increase CNN brand awareness and loyalty and will drive new viewers to their site, resulting in increased page views, resulting in greater ad revenue from their site.
5. You are right, no one is forcing one to purchase the app. That said, no one is forcing CNN to create an iPhone app. They are doing it for the money, and the brand, and the viewers, all of which are noble. But there is little question that with millions of iPhone owners that the creation of this and the bandwidth can't be monetized from either ads alone or the App purchase price.
If the number of apps is based on CNN's ratings, they won't be selling too many.
From 25 Sep 09:
25-54 demographic: (L +SD)
Total day: FNC: 433 | CNN: 161 | MSNBC: 144 | HLN: 133
CNN is barely squeaking out more viewers than MSNBC. They are getting a little over a million viewers, so they really could sell a lot of apps. The real questions is why FNC doesn't do a similar app. They have around 6 million viewers typically. Those are real numbers.
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