paidContent: Gannett’s mobile strategy has been centered around the two iPhone apps for USA Today. What are you concentrating on these days?

SEE ALSO: USA Today iPad App Will Go Subscription Model This Summer

Matt Jones: We’re putting a lot of time and focus into the USAT iPad app. We’re off to a great start. We think it’s critically important to maintain the leadership position we’ve established—we’re the number one free news app and the number 5 or 6 free app in general on any given week since April. We feel good about the product that we put out, given the amount of time we had to do it. It’s been a challenge to think what this business will look like three months from now, let alone several years from now and trying to assess what sort of impact it will have on the media landscape.

During the last earnings call, Gannett CEO Craig Dubow said that the USAT app would become a subscription product after Courtyard Marriott’s exclusive sponsorship ends on July 4.

We’re spending a lot of time evaluating the different opportunities that are available. There’s tremendous things you can do with in-app purchasing and the advertising market for this thing is really on fire. We’re trying to factor in all the different levers and make the best decision long-term. We have some product enhancement that have got to get nailed down. That’s the thing that I am most focused on. Aside from the subscription product and the subscription strategy, the point is if you don’t have the product right, supporting a subscription is going to be more of a challenge, especially for an app that has been so popular.

So will the USAT app remain free in some form or will there be a single paid version only?

That’s something we’re still looking at. For example, we’re looking at in-app purchasing [of individual issues of the paper]. We’re also looking at potentially keeping it open, because the advertising demand has been so remarkable. If you are sold out on premium CPMs, then maybe there’s a better business model there than previously thought. The final decision is still up in the air and is not definite.

Speaking of advertising, how much do expect to benefit from iAds, which is also coming next month?

I think it’s going to be a great thing. There’s a rising tide of mobile advertising . I’ve been in this space for a long time and have seen many false starts. I have more confidence right now that what we’re seeing is real, is meaningful and is starting to be transformational. So expectations for mobile advertising are at a high level and we’re trying to satisfy them.