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With Business

Apps: blessing or curse for publishers?

The old business model of newspaper publishing seemed for so long to be set in stone. One third of income came from sales and two thirds from ads. But this model appears to have had its day. In 2009, newspaper sales overtook ad sales for the first time due to a shrinking advertising market.

More ad money was invested in web outlets. Newspaper publishers are uncertain about their future as fast new digital offerings continue to eat up their market share. The Augsburger Allgemeine is one of the biggest regional newspapers in southern Germany. Recently it has been expanding its Web presence. Traditional publishers have been facing up to the reality of competition from digital platforms delivered on tablet computers like the iPad. More and more people are downloading apps on tablets and consuming their media that way.

The Augsburger Allgemeine has set up an in-house TV and production facility to allow for moving images on its website -- a must in this day and age. All the same, the newspaper's owners are convinced that the old-fashioned paper medium has not yet bitten the dust.

Number Cruncher

414,000 - that's the number of people currently employed in Germany's chemicals industry. The total is down one and a half percent from a year ago. The sector includes global powerhouses like BASF and Henkel, as well as pharmaceutical giants Bayer and Fresenius. Their largest workforces are in Germany. Due to the economic slowdown, the chemicals and pharmaceuticals industry had to shift more than ten percent of their staff to a short-time working scheme last year. But most employees have already returned to full-time schedules.