William F. Garrity

Here's a story from today's The New York Times about a company that hopes to help local papers publish on smartphones. 

A Means for Publishers to Put a Newspaper in Your Pocket

By CLAIRE CAIN MILLER

SAN FRANCISCO — The thud of the morning newspaper landing on front porches may one day be replaced with the beep of downloads onto a cellphone.

Verve Wireless believes it can save the dying local newspaper by making it mobile. It offers publishers the technology to create Web sites for cellphones. The company, based in Encinitas, Calif., already provides mobile versions of 4,000 newspapers from 140 publishers, including Freedom Communications, the McClatchy Company and The New York Times Company’s Regional Media Group. The Associated Press, its biggest customer, is betting that Verve has the solution to the nagging problem of dwindling print readership. It led a $3 million round of financing in Verve, a rare investment for the news organization.

People are increasingly using their phones to surf the Web. Of the 95 million mobile Internet subscribers in the United States, 40 million actively use their phones to go online, twice the number of two years ago, according to Nielsen Mobile. After portal sites and e-mail services, newspaper content — weather, news, politics, city guides, sports and entertainment — is most popular among mobile users.

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