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European newspaper publishers gave a cautious welcome on Thursday to the much-hyped iPad and its potential to allow traditional media to capture a new paying, digital audience.
But doubts remained as to whether Apple's latest gadget would mark a watershed and accelerate the take-up of paid-for multimedia content.
"It's still a niche product, not mass market," said Philippe Gendret, head of digital and business development for Switzerland's Edipresse.
"Would your average newspaper reader, aged 50, spend 500 euros just to read a (digital) paper? And will it lure in occasional web news surfers?"
He said the iPad's colour and display capabilities were "an important development," but added: "This is for the heavy user, for geeks."
Financial Times chief John Ridding, however, said the iPad marked "a significant new step," allowing providers "to deliver more interactive and dynamic content to our customers."
Either way, according to Michael Zackrisson, Internet chief for Swedish weekly Veckans Affarers, the iPad "won't save the media industries, we have to do that ourselves."
Newspapers and magazines have gone digital to stay relevant in an Internet-obsessed culture, but have seen print advertising revenue evaporate as stories and images are freely indexed and shared online.
Apple has led the way in conditioning people to pay once more for applications, games and other content.
Ben Carlin, an adviser to the European Newspaper Publishers' Association (ENPA), expressed fears that Apple could become too dominant.
"There are worries," he said, that the company could "use this power in an abusive manner by insisting on unreasonable margins, for example retaining 50 percent of revenues."
But the executive director of the European magazine publishers association, Max von Abendroth, said the colour breakthrough could make all the difference to glossy periodical publishers.
"This is the first really attractive tool for magazines," he said.
Jim Gaines, a former corporate editor at Time Inc. who is now editor-in-chief of FLYPmedia, sounded a more sceptical note.
"I don't think this device is the messiah for print, but it is very possible that its descendants will be," he said.
