The Newspaper Association of America had requested that plans be submitted to them from industry leaders on how they would tackle the problem of how newspapers could generate more income. The newspaper appear to be unable or do not understand how to function in the digital age, and are seeking ways to stay afloat in a world where news is free. In their quest they had contacted Microsoft who presented their plan, which incorporates some of these features:

Vision

We have developed a vision for a Next-Generation Newspaper which revolves around the concepts of contextual awareness, interactivity and user participation, personalization, anywhere access,cross-platform/cross-device access, semantic search and navigation, pay-for-content andadvertising-based monetization.

The Next-Generation Newspaper is the user’s information hub, aggregating content from different sources and matching it to the user’s profile, preferences, and context (situation). It is accessible from any device, both online and offline, and helps the user to navigate the content universe through search, links, and recommendations. Content and audiences are monetized through pay-for-content and advertising. This vision is mapped onto a stack of products, services, and technologies which are available from Microsoft today and can be used to implement this vision. An overview of these products is provided below.

The screen shot represents what Microsoft sees as the future of newspapers monetizing revenue online by using profiles and content that is chosen by the user. This is a great idea but one that is not totally new.

The article is approximately 4 pages long and can be viewed at the below link.

Comments welcome.

Source – Microsoft document in .pdf format.

PS I think what the newspapers are going to get is a dose of already available services.