How Publishers Are Tackling the App Question

Houses adopt varied approaches to a big, crowded market with low prices
By Rachel Deahl, Calvin Reid, and Craig Morgan Teicher in Publishers Weekly - Nov 15, 2010

Are apps marketing devices for authors and books, or a new revenue stream? This is just one of many questions publishers are asking as they develop apps from their content.
When PW approached large and midsize publishers to find out about their app programs, we discovered that many houses don't have "programs" per se. Questions loom about what content is best suited for apps—though overwhelmingly it seems that reference and children's are sweet spots—and how best to look at apps.

Should apps be created with the goal of bringing in money independent of books, or as tools to market books and authors? And how do publishers define an app? Many said it was simply anything that could be sold in the App Store. This may soon change, as rumors have swelled that Apple will add restrictions on what can be sold in its App Store. (Currently, a publisher can adapt an e-book and sell it in the App Store even if it doesn't feature any content added to the original.) Right now, though, publishers are dipping their feet into this market slowly and, with the exception of a few houses, cautiously.

Full story at PW.