Exclusive MSearchGroove Podcast With Event Keynote & Handmark CEO Reveals Challenges, Commercial Opportunities Ahead For Media Companies

LONDON, U.K. and COLOGNE, Germany – May 28, 2010 – Does the iPad represent an opportunity or a threat to content companies? Can print publishing survive? What are the monetization models that will guarantee sustainable mass-market success? These are just a few of the hot topics media companies, analysts and attendees will debate during M-PUBLISHING (London, June 1), a conference that combines an array of formats, sessions and provocative one-on-one debates to identify winning business models and encourage alliances that will deliver positive results.

In the countdown to this high-caliber event conference organizer Camerjam has teamed with MSearchGroove, the source of commentary and analysis on mobile marketing, mobile search and social media to produce a special podcast interview with Paul Reddick, CEO of Handmark. In this exclusive interview, which debuts today on MSearchGroove, Reddick urges publishers to acknowledge the impact of device and platform fragmentation on their future business.

"Publishers need to be where their customers are. It's not just the iPhone or the iPad. You [publishers] must build rich applications that take advantage of what all these devices can do," Reddick says in an exclusive interview with Peggy Anne Salz, MSearchGroove chief analyst and founder. "It's not enough to have a good brand and a great app. Publishers also need to seek partners that actively drive distribution of their apps and monetization of their business."

Other speakers at M-PUBLISHING include: representatives from leading U.K. daily newspapers (Guardian, Mirror, Evening Standard, Mail, FT), global magazine publishers (IPC Media, Bauer Media, Contagious Magazine), and book publishers (HarperCollins, Ether Books). Digital media experts from Sky, Absolute Radio will also present their key learnings and Teletext Mobile will use the event to demo its new iPad application for the Metro, a free newspaper in the U.K.

To identify industry concerns and gauge interest in issues such as advertising-funded schemes and the rift between mobile applications and mobile websites Camerjam has also conducted an informal online poll of practitioners and professionals. The survey, which is still going on, has provided some interesting initial findings:

•   Is there a future for print publishing? Yes 77% (357 votes), No 23% (109 votes)

•   Apps vs. mobile websites? Apps 74% (201 votes), Mobile websites 26% (72 votes)

•   Is ad funded or paid content more sustainable? Ad funded 48% (32 votes), Paid 52% (35 votes)


"While 74 percent of respondents favored apps over mobile websites, those with app capable phones represent a small but growing part of the market," notes James Cameron, Camerjam founder. "Mobile websites are an extremely important part of any publishers' strategy if they want to address their complete customer base. Marks and Spencer this week launched an m-commerce mobile website to deal with this exact issue."

MSearchGroove proudly showcases premier industry events and conferences worldwide. "Mobile is becoming the remote control of our lives and the mass medium that sits at the center of all we do," Salz says. "Therefore MSearchGroove proactively promotes events at this critical intersection of content and context. In addition to media sponsorships, MSG produces interviews and podcasts free of charge for select event partners to boost profile and drive results." Event organizers are encouraged to contact MSearchGroove and discuss collaboration and promotional partnerships.