WSJ: Apple iTablet to do for Newspapers, Magazine, Books, What iPod did for Music
When the Wall Street Journal cites sources and talks Apple, it's usually part reporting, part expectation setting, and if this is the latter, than exactly what Steve Jobs plans the iTablet to do for print media -- newspapers, magazines, and books -- is no less than what he did for music on the iPod. Digital revolution much?
- Focused on the home and the classroom
- Shared by multiple family members [Um, sorry sis, get yer own!]
- Apple has explored electronic textbooks
- Has virtual keyboard
- Working with print media on text content
- Working with CBS/Disney on video content
- Working with EA on video game content
- Talking with Microsoft about search and maps
- Cable/TV providers resisting giving Apple "best" content (4-6 shows per channel), would rather it be "all" content
- $1000 price point "tested" again
- iTablet UI meant to be shareable; Apple has explored "sticky notes" as a way to share messages; facial recognition as a way of knowing who's using it
- Apple planning web-based version of iTunes called iTunes.com
- "Buy" buttons would go wide on as many websites as possible
Part round up of previous stories, part analyst musing, part real information, check it out and let us know what your sorting hat puts in the "real" pile.
Editor-in-Chief of iMore, Executive Producer at Mobile Nations, co-host of Iterate and ZEN and TECH, cook, grappler, photon wrangler.
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FIRST !!!!!!!!!!!
Ooooops ...... Wait a minute........ Matt 20:16
Whatever "it" is, it can't possibly live up to all the hype... But I can hope it does...
Apple really does a great job with marketing. This is absolutely great stuff to watch and read...
it all depends on the battery life.
1000 dollar testing price point ? so uh Rene , let me how you like it. Me ? I'll let you know in a year.
Unless all my school books cost me $5, a $1,000 price point is completely unrealistic.
$1000 to be £990 I bet. Ah good old shaft the UK coming up.
As for it going to do to print what the iPod did to music I can't see it being that massive a change. Books and magazines for instance last longer than a song or even a whole CD. As such a single book for instance could well last several days where as a CD wouldn't. In that respect music was ideally suited to being crammed into your mp3. Plus music is something that you can listen to walking along the street to work for instance. Can't really read a book or watch a movie. Not you want a face full of lampost. It will change it I have no doubts but I doubt it will be the firestorm that we saw with music.
I predicted this approach to usurpation of the print media months ago when I first heard Apple was talking to the print media giants.
It the WSJ is leaking this while at the same time likely to be one of the first newspapers on the device you can bet they think the story will not keep till the 27th, and they might as well be first.
Nook and Kindle can get newspaper subscriptions as well, but the devices are black and white and the format small. (Probably better suited to the newspapers than any tablet, but less suited to Magazines.)
I actually prefer reading a Magazine on my Barnes and Noble Nook, because you get none of the advertising, not of the chopped up stories (turn to page 72). You can go Cover to cover in a very short time, and read on the train/bus.
The apple device will probably never leave the home or office, and probably never be more than 10 feet from an outlet for recharging. But things will sure look pretty on it.
@The Dave:
The iSlate will do much more for publishing than the iPod did for music. When was the last time you interacted with a song? Music is passive. The iSlate promises to bring interactivity to publishing. It's the interactivity that makes it dynamic and more than just another pretty presenter of pre-packaged static information.
Don't forget the stories about the NY Times charging for content on the web on 2010. No doubt that they have a reason or business model that will allow them to make that change and Apple would be part of the reason.
I hope the iTablet lives up to the hype (95% chance it will not). I really can't see myself using this thing if it's just a larger version of the iPhone. Any reading I do on the road is done through my iPhone. It fits in my pocket and it's always around. I fail to see any wide market potential for this product.
I'm the type of person who buys gadgets if they fulfill a roll in my life and I honestly can't see this doing anything for me.
I'll wait until next Wednesday to pass judgment though.
Am I the only one concerned about this "Buy" button concept on as many websites as possible?? So is the itablet going to take all the free content we get on the web now and change the game to where we have to pay for having access to our favorite sites???? Scary thought! I would much rather sites make money off advertising than this approach. This could be a game changer that benefits Apples pockets but not the consumer!!!! Scary! Not good.
@Waidt
Yes, because Choose Your Own Adventures destroyed traditional publishing in the 1970s.
Oh wait, you have some insider knowledge of that interactivity it brings? Do tell...
I really do like Apple's technology (hardware and software), especially the integration. And yes I use an iPhone and have a MacBook Air that travels with me wherever I go.
But if the iTablet/iSlate/iPad is priced at $1000, no thanks. Maybe at $750 I'll consider it. Though if you need to spend $1000 to get the larger SS disk and more RAM, no thx.
And I really do not want to be subjected to "all" the content from the cable channels.
Publishing perhaps, but not newspapers. The extent newspaper publishers buy into the "slate as savior" concept will determine how fast their publications die.
From a commercial standpoint it is key that the iSlate exists. It is a vehicle to do all the things the iPhone/iTouch cannot. It's a size thing due to the plethora of formats it will be able to handle. No more reflowing docs to fit tiny screens. PDF native, newspaper/magazine formats with all the bells and whistles.
At the risk of getting egg on my face, I say this will be revolutionary if the price can be targetted correctly. £$1k is too high, but a lower speac may be punted within the year. Just as iPhones are an aspirational device, so will this be. But the ticket value needs to be kept high by Apple so as not to cheapen the experience. The iSlate needs to appeal to the masses though, as the daily perishable data which it consumes will be newspapers and magazines.
I have never known such anticipation and am very excited!
@JimBob:
I never said anything about "destroying" traditional publishing. I said "it will do much more" for publishing, as in enhancing, or re-invigorating publishing. You seem to be comparing a very narrowly focused idea from the 70's to a much richer, broader, and immediate feedback experience the iSlate will offer. And even though that 70's idea was very narrowly focused, according to Wikipedia, "Choose Your Own Adventure was one of the most popular children's series during the 1980s and 1990s, selling over 250 million copies between 1979 and 1998,[1][2] and translated into at least 38 languages.[1] ", and is currently being re-published.
I hope it's waterproof.... where I sually read my magazines and newspaper, this has to be waterproof
If you don't get it, think of seinfeld and the "marked book"
I am going to buy it as soon as it comes out, and keep my reader ECTACO jetBook, 'cause it's a completely different experience, if you understand what I mean.