Newspaper editors are keeping a close watch on the progress of the new ipad which should be available in Europe by the end of this April. They are hoping that electronic sales will be the answer to falling circulation figures and competition in the shape of free news on the internet.

Le Monde is a national French daily published in Paris. Philippe Jeannet, the editor in chief, said “The first thing is that it will mean that newsprint will always be available across the whole country simultaneously. Today you have to go to the newsagent to buy a newspaper but tomorrow you’ll be able to download it directly onto your iPad.”

The initial application will give access to the 30 latest issues of the paper.

Philippe Jeannet explained, “The first version lets you flick through the pages just like with a printed newspaper, but on an iPad you can zoom in on the pages. And of course you can also read the last 30 editions and once the iPad arrives in France at the end of April beginning of May, we’ll add all the articles from Le Monde, live news will be added to the printed newspaper.”

So are we looking at the end of newsprint as we know it? Is this the start of a whole new way of distributing news?

Philippe Jeannet said, “I think that the iPad could help save newspapers, but the problem is primarily to make people want to buy it. First, the press, whether in print or on the internet or on an iPad, has to atttract readers, has to offer lively, interesting, high-quality reporting so as to make people want to buy.”

But the iPad isn’t only for news… all publications on the market could go digital. Cartoons in particular are fighting for space on e-readers like the iPad.

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