iPhone 6 'making the big screen the norm' for mobile publishing

Apple is "making the big screen the norm" for mobile publishing with the new iPhone 6 and 6+, according to Matt Warman, consumer technology editor for The Telegraph.

In his keynote speech at the launch of the new National Readership Survey (NRS) research into mobile audiences, in London today, Warman urged publishers to look to the future of devices and their uses, as well as the present.

"The most obvious point with mobile and tablet, to a degree, is a quite fractured understanding of screen sizes," Warman told Journalism.co.uk, "but what Apple has done has moved that market."

With larger screen sizes for mobile devices comes the "opportunity to do things that weren't possible before [on mobile]", Warman said, without worrying about the possible detriment of "fiddly" controls to see more detailed images.

An early look at the new NRS data, to be released publicly on Friday (September 19), showed digital audience figures increased by 31 per cent for news organisations when mobile readership was included, and 26 per cent for magazine brands.

News brands releasing mobile data on Friday #NRSMobile pic.twitter.com/qam05nUnQu

— Alastair Reid (@ajreid) September 17, 2014

Publishers should also be thinking about where trends in media consumption are headed as companies such as Apple start to produce different devices.

The Apple Watch, launched last week to much excitement from technology enthusiasts, challenges publishers to work to an even smaller screen size, but Warman said it should be treated in the wider context of more connected devices.

"What we are seeing is a sense that every single device – a car, glasses, watches – will be just as connected as the smartphone Steve Jobs unveiled in 2007," he told NRS delegates.

For those with access to such devices, this in turn represents greater access to "more useful brands and more useful journalism in a way that feels less invasive than it does currently", he said, as the internet of things becomes ubiquitous in some markets.

"People will probably care less about the brand of phone they have," Warman said, "but care passionately about being connected with the modern world and the modern media."

The future of devices and the implications for publishing is still not entirely certain, he concluded, although added that "we can see the possibilities".

And where some types of media may be better suited to certain devices, screens or contexts, this expansion gives publishers more opportunities to reach their audience.

"On the one hand, it's horses for courses," he said, "but on the other we've just got a lot more courses than were available before."

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