Hoping to avoid the fate of myriad news providers and former publishing juggernauts that have succumbed to the digital media age, the Associated Press is continuing to roll out a multitude of new mobile and multimedia initiatives to give one of the world’s oldest news reporting organizations a fresh face in the mobile news era.
Tom Curley, the AP’s chief executive officer, says that “AP Gateway” will serve as a new business unit designed to cultivate new opportunities across new platforms, especially mobile devices like cell phones, tablet computers, e-readers, etc. With the ultimate goal of expanding the company’s AP Mobile news service for mobile devices, the powers that be at the AP have hinted that some of the applications and offerings will likely be introduced free of charge, while other services (like premium packages) could possibility be introduced on a paid subscription basis.
In recent weeks, the AP has earned as many headlines as it reports by announcing that the venerable news entity will create its own iPad application, a move that stunned many competing news organizations that are admittedly reluctant to embrace Apple’s much awaited tablet computer.
For now, the Associated Press says it will use the AP Gateway group as a mechanism by which to assist its fifteen-hundred member newspapers in developing and driving original digital content.
