Assessing the Bloomberg Businessweek app

Dan Frommer of The Business Insider critiques the new Bloomberg Businessweek application for the iPad.

Frommer writes, “So far, we haven’t been able to locate the area in the app to terminate your iTunes-based subscription; we’ve reached out for help on that, and will update when we hear back.

“One big challenge for apps like this is that most (all?) of the stories are available to read on Businessweek’s website for free, and the iPad is a great device for reading websites. The articles aren’t formatted as nicely, but they’re there. And it’s not like there’s much exclusive or interactive content in the app.

“So apps like these are mostly useful if you decide you want to read the whole magazine, or read it in ‘magazine’ format. Or if you want to read it offline, on a plane or something. If you do, that’s great, and that’s one reason why Bloomberg knows it’s important to cater to existing print subscribers. But many people just don’t really need this app anymore.

“Bigger picture: While you could say that weekly business magazines are already irrelevant in the Twitter era, Bloomberg is at least spending money on making good products. (That’s the beauty of having a cash-printing terminal business with which to fund Bloomberg TV, magazines, etc.)”