Singing the multiplatform blues

It’s a dizzying, seasick world, this one of multiplatform publishing. With so many devices for acquiring news available to consumers today and the fast pace in which the devices are evolving—especially the smartphone—trying to plan a multiplatform publishing system can be as daunting as navigating through an ocean storm.
Indeed, publishers are hitting a seawall with what Rumble’s chief revenue officer Uyen Tieu said has been coined “integration fatigue.”
Tieu, who has a background in revenue strategy and partnerships at Viacom Inc. and headed up global sales strategy at Microsoft Corp., said that because mobile code base is only five years old, it takes a while for a new language to mature. Plus, there’s the bigger issue of non-standardization on handheld devices. “It is still an industry where it’s very fragmented. It’s very young still and resisting standardization,” she said.
That creates a dilemma for publishers, forcing them to constantly integrate or introduce new systems. “The very proliferation of these mobile devices adds a layer of complexity that is frankly dizzying,” said Online Publishers Association’s editorial director Michelle Manafy.
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