The iPad is Not the Media Messiah…Or is It?
For the past year, media pundits searched for a solution. Newspapers are dying they said, and something needs to be done. The industry requires an iTunes for the news industry or some way to make money off content for survival.
The cries went out. “We need a savior. We need someone to lead us through this time of change.” Some chose to follow the prophet Murdoch and his preaching of the Holy Paywall. Other hoped for something more.
Rumors began to circulate about a Holy Grail that would renew the industry. A tablet by the man called Jobs that would save media. On January 27, 2010 he would come down from the mountain at One Infinite Loop to deliver a new way of life for us all. Their savior was coming.
Boy were people pissed when they found out the tablet was just a bunch of guidelines.
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Those expecting an instant game-changer from Apple this week were likely disappointed with the iPad. The device is basically a larger iPod touch with the functionality to buy books added. I know my expectations were not met. However, Apple presented a new way to look at a computer – similar to how they changed the way people look at music in 2001.
The iPad is not that far off from the device media companies want it to be. There are two significant pieces missing from the current iPad that would make it a true device to help media.
Push is the future subscription model that will allow news organizations to make a profit. In the future, news websites will post breaking news, but release in-depth stories first to paid subscribers. The Kindle currently has push through a free 3G service included with the purchase. When you wake up on a Sunday morning, your New York Times is delivered via the Kindle. If you don’t have a chance to read the paper for a couple days, they are still there waiting.
The iPad requires an app to access the news. If you subscribe to multiple newspapers, it requires multiple apps. By comparison, you can subscribe to multiple podcasts on iTunes and have them downloaded and waiting when you start your computer. Apple would be wise to develop something similar as part of their bookshelf (Newsbin?) for daily media. It would update as soon as news became available and stay on the system until removed.
The second missing piece is a content creation program. If the ‘Newsbin’ concept was reality, it means there is no longer a need for media companies to hire a gaggle of programmers to create an app and environment for the iPad. Now news organizations big and small have access to create and possibly charge for content delivered directly to your iPad.
Looking again at the iTunes example, GarageBand gave everyone that owned a Mac the ability to create and publish podcasts. Imagine if high school students could easily create news articles including video, audio and images; similar to the demonstration the NY Times presented for the iPad (below). What proud parent wouldn’t want a mobile device to show their friends the article with video their child created for their school? Since Apple is currently sparing with Adobe, I could see them introducing such a program as part of iLife 11.
It could be that Apple is following the roadmap it established with music and the iPod. Apple first released iTunes nine months before it introduced the iPod in 2001. It took two years before iTunes opened its music store, and another year before GarageBand was released. Are they following a similar roadmap with the iPad?
If not, there is another prophet named Google that may be the chosen one…
What do you think of CNN’s heavy reliance on and featuring of iReports especially when it comes to breaking news like the Haiti earthquake or protests in Iran? Would you imagine people using a new tool to create/edit these reports (making them infinitely local and personal) instead of a traditional laptop/camera or is the future in a new way of sharing these reports? Almost like a multi-media twitter/blog feed that people with similar interests could subscribe to? Do you think anyone will want to pay for these iReports? Or is the future in micro-advertising on iReports that are otherwise free?
For now, I look at the iPad as a media consumption device (a portable apple store if you will), but it has interesting potential as a media creation device if it was not for its limited input sources. I know you can buy a photo adapter for downloading photos from a camera or memory card so perhaps all it would need now is a more fully, featured app to edit those photos and perhaps a layout program that could transform those photos to be part of a presentation or report. I imagine something similar could be done with video.
On a somewhat tangential thought: If everyone becomes a reporter, how do the newspapers still make money? Are they just an aggregation of user generated reports and articles? Is what they provide simply an editorial service that organizes and categorizes the reports? And would anyone pay for that?
/ end ramble
Wow, there’s a lot to address in that comment. Let me see what I can do.
I like the iReport approach for breaking news that happens before the “pros” can get there. do I think it will replace them? No. Is it a service that can make them some money? Sure! I think people would pay via advertising rather than subscription fees (this is the future free content on websites). Also, if you took a video that CNN choose to use, you want to be able to show your friends, not make them pay to see it. This is also help established media make money – they’ll sell advertising for the prestige of having your video selected to be on their site (“Dude, my video’s on CNN!!!).
There could be something like an “iPad Pro” in the future which combines all of this. People are already editing video and such on cell phones, so the only thing missing is the camera. With WiFi memory cards, you could send the pictures/video right to the iPad without a connection, edit and upload them straight to the web.
Think that covers it. Let me know if I missed anything.