14 DAY TRIAL // Pioneer News Group, a Seattle-based company that owns several newspapers, is offering Windows 10 tablets to subscribers, after previously collaborating with Microsoft on developing a special newspaper reading app that’s installed on these devices.
Pioneer is the company behind 23 daily and weekly newspapers in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Utah, and is giving customers paying $15 a month for a one-year digital subscription a Windows 10 tablet to read news easier.
The application that’s being installed on Windows 10 tablets is called uReporter and is already available for download from the Store, but according to Pioneer, it will also be released on Android and iOS.
Program to be expanded in 2017
And it turns out that this campaign is already successful, as many readers who were paying for a subscription decided to switch to the digital world with a Windows 10 tablet.
“In the first few weeks, readers of the Skagit Valley Herald in Mount Vernon, Washington - the first Pioneer paper to offer the system - bought a few dozen tablets and downloaded the app on several hundred devices, even before full marketing efforts had kicked in,” the company explained.
The news app is currently available in three markets and the tablets are offered only in two, but an expansion is very likely to be announced soon, as the company is still exploring its options for 2017.
“So far, Pioneer is offering the apps in three of its markets, and it’s selling tablets in two. Initially, direct ads have targeted former subscribers - folks who canceled in recent years because they didn’t have time to read and the papers kept stacking up. Pioneer will assess progress in early 2017 and decide whether to scale up or pivot, Johnston says,” Microsoft pointed out in a blog today.
There are no details as to what devices the newspaper is giving away, but they all come with an 8-inch display. A closer look at these devices is available with the high-res photo attached to the article.