Some interesting learnings to take on board when thinking about iPad activity from News Australia.

Insights that Incite: 10 Things We’ve Learned From 10 iPad users

Last week we spent 20 hours watching how 10 iPad users use the device.  Here are 10 things we learned by watching 10 iPad users:

1.       It’s a global newsstand.  They are buying foreign versions of magazines, oftentimes not even knowing it.  “The cover of Vogue is different from the print version” (btw, these were smart, affluent luxury readers we interviewed).  We now compete with 12 versions of GQ in the Zinio newsstand.

2.       The competition on tablets isn’t just other magazines; it’s everything from Angry Birds to Skype to Pinterest.  We are competing for their attention against 60,000 other iPad apps. 

3.       Awareness of Apple Newsstand and Zinio is low.   People are generally unfamiliar with magazines on tablets.  A lot of focus is on apps for work and just using the tablet for web browsing (Safari) and email, social networking. 

4.       Ads with interactivity win: They like being able to engage and interact with relevant ads.  Ads without interactivity annoy – they are just static, take up the full screen and unlike print, there is no content on the opposite page because there is no opposite page. 

5.       A flick is faster than a flip:  When they are annoyed by ads or not engaged with it, they can flick by fast – faster than they can normally flip a page.

6.       They prefer to flick left to right – not up and down.   They get lost when going up and down, and worry that they’ve missed some content. 

7.       Content and commerce can blur:  They don’t mind the blurring of content and commerce – it reflects the “lean back AND lean forward” experience of the iPad.  

8.       It has to work:  There are a lot of apps that crash or don’t work properly.  Unlike laptops, the ipad has more limited disc space/memory and they will delete apps that don’t work or offer value to their lives. 

9.       Most people will continue to read a mix of print and iPad magazines.  Only a few planned to totally ditch print.   

10.   A magazine renaissance is coming.   Print and tablets have many parallels – they use the same language to talk about them: the tactile nature, the beautiful photos, the focused attention they place on them.   

From the study “Making Digital Glossy” – a collaborative study between NewsLifeMedia and Mediacom Prestige