CEO Styli Charalambous

In terms of expanding the number of types of devices that iMaverick will be available on, Charalambous says, “Android is the next format for us. We started with the iPad as it’s the biggest player in the market, but we are not tied to any particular operating platform or brand” When asked why people would pay a subscription for daily news that is available for free on other APPs, Charalambous is clear in the positioning of iMaverick “people who have the iPad want a premium product, a business class experience, and that includes not only how they read their news but also the quality of the news, the thought that is put into writing the stories and the opinions that we give. It’s not just about getting breaking news to people fast. iMaverick will also include premium content and multimedia that will not be available in The Daily Maverick, and of course once you have downloaded it you can read it even if your iPad is offline.”

iMaverick has been set a break-even target of 8 000 subscribers, and Charalambous predicts that the subscriptions will continue to grow. “Once the tablet market in South Africa

reaches sales of 500 000 in two to three years’ time, then we should be expect to see these devices everywhere, as common as laptops and cellphones are now. This will obviously be driven by the cost of both broadband and the devices themselves coming down. Other countries in Africa will see good growth too, particularly Nigeria and Kenya.”

are plans to add weekly lifestyle magazines into the subscription at no extra cost, which will make the daily cost of under R4 even better value for money2

.

“There will be a number of launch parties around the country during September so that we can show the rest of the media what we are offering in this new category,” Charalambous concluded.

1 Also available on the iPhone and iPod 2 Based on an annual subscription

September 2011 | Management Today 11 Once the iMaverick has established itself there