The AP Is Launching Its Own iPad App

The Associated Press has announced plans to launch an iPad subscription app, via a strategic business unit aimed at seeking and developing new business opportunities for its multimedia news. The unit is called the AP Gateway and it will facilitate development of fresh news for multiple platforms, including e-readers like Apple’s iPad, according to MacDailyNews.

“AP Gateway will serve as the launching pad for new products and services from AP and other interested news publishers,” Tom Curley, president and CEO of The Associated Press, said today at the annual meeting of the Colorado Press Association. “It will allow the news industry to deliver the news directly to the consumer in a variety of exciting new ways.”

The Senior Vice President and new Chief Revenue Officer of AP, Jane Seagrave, said that Gateway’s first set of products would be targeting the newest devices, including the Apple iPad. As for William Dean Singleton, chairman of the AP Board of Directors and chairman and chief executive officer of MediaNews Group, he stated, “We’ve already seen the power of the AP Cooperative in AP Mobile, among the most popular news applications for smart phones worldwide. AP Gateway builds on the strength of the Cooperative in the era of digital publishing.”

“AP Gateway is the natural extension of our ongoing digital strategy,” Curley added in his Denver announcement. “Rather than just repurpose our content across formats, we now have a real opportunity to innovate and create differentiated experiences of the news across formats that will excite all of us, from producers to consumers of news.”

Apple’s iPad, announced in January, is regarded as a bigger iPod touch, with enhanced web browsing, and e-reading capabilities. The device will also act as an education tool, going by recent reports, making it only logical for publishers of all kinds to adapt their content to fit the iPad.