Philadelphia Newspapers to Give Away Android to New Digital Subscribers

Philadelphia, which is more of a high-tech area than many realize, will become the site of an interesting experiment in newspaper subscription marketing.

According to an AP story picked up by the San Jose Mercury News, the City of Brotherly Love's two major dailies will throw in a free Android tablet to paid digital subscribers. The web-based digital editions currently cost $155 per year for a subscription. Unsurprisingly, the initiative is aiming at the proverbial "young professional" market. While the reasoning is understandable, the newspapers' marketing teams might consider the number of "older professionals" who either own or are planning to purchase a tablet. These are people who are also accustomed to paying for a subscription and have probably read either or both newspapers over many years.

There are other moving parts to the story, such as the emergence of web-based applications "which can work on any device with a browser. The Financial Times launched a Web app last month," the AP story noted.

The two Philadelphia dailies were purchased in September, 2010 by a collection of hedge funds and creditors in a bankruptcy sale. The image, from the Philadelphia Architects and Buildings Project, shows the Inquirer Building (also known as the Elverson Building). It is included in the National Register of Historic Places.