By @DarrylMason
The Australian takes its column inches hogging obsession with the iPad to hilarious extremes:
How obsessed with the iPad is The Australian?
Utterly.
It's almost as if the newspaper's entire existence hangs on trying to convince 50,000 or more Australians to buy, and keep buying, its $4.99 per month (for now) iPad application. Which, of course, it does. Particularly considering owner Rupert Murdoch is planning to phase out the print edition within the next two or three years and shut down the printing presses forever, a Death To Newspapers move Murdoch described in September 2009 as "great" :
“I do certainly see the day when more people will be buying their newspapers on portable reading panels than on crushed trees.“Then we’re going to have no paper, no printing plants, no unions. It’s going to be great.”
Mumbrella noticed how obsessed The Australian has been with the iPad, and did some Googling. Since the start of February 2010, The Australian has run more than three dozen stories about the iPad, how absolutely brill it is, why it will save newspapers and how and why you should buy The Australian iPad app.
In just two days (April 12-13) The Australian ran at least six stories on the subject, most shamelessly hawking the digital tablet to readers in pure advertorial speak. On May 24, The Australian broke its own record by running four stories on the iPad.
Good luck to them. If their launch product is anything to go by - thin on content, visually bland - they're going to need it.
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