In the last few days iPad's todays introduction got lots of attention in the news.
According to the Admob survey 11% of smartphone users are interested in purchasing an iPad.
I have to admit that I am one of them.
I have to admit that I am one of them.
However, I will wait until the 3G version is available so I can read newspapers real time in a train on my way to the office. Is it going to replace my new netbook?
I believe that newspapers have high expectations for the iPad and are already looking for new business models for iPad users.
I went through my favourite newspapers on my iPhone and each of them had at least one article devoted to the iPad introduction including announcements of own iPad applications !
In The Wall Street Journal Walter Mossberg already asks the key question in the title “Laptop killer? Pretty Close”and further summarizes “”iPad Is a ‘Game Changer’ That Makes Browsing and Video a Pleasure ; Challenge to the Mouse”
In The New York Times David Pogue in his article “Looking at the iPad From Two Angles” addresses two groups of readers: “techies” and “anyone else.”
In the “techie” part he writes “Surfing the Web is a heck of a lot better than on the tiny iPhone screen – first because it’s so fast , and second, because you don’t have to do nearly as much zooming and panning”
For “non techies” he writes: “But the real fun begins when you try the apps that were specially designed for the iPad’s bigger screen”, “ Newspaper apps will reproduce the layout , photos and colors of a real newspaper”
This is how The New York Times advertises its iPad Editor’s Choice Application:
“Enjoy the award-winning journalism of The New York Times with the unique functionality and navigation of the iPad. The Editors’ Choice application offers a limited selection of latest news, opinion and features that are automatically updated to your device and free of charge.“
More about how newspapers and magazine publishers plan to support iPad platform you can read on CNET “New York Times prominent among media iPad apps”
The Polish second largest daily newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza (25k downloaded GW iPhone readers applications so far) in the article “Publishers are awaiting iPad which may change their business”stresses high interests in iPad among leading Polish publishers and reports that despite the fact iPad is going to be available later in Poland “The best brains in media business are looking for ways to monetize it.”
This new user experience and opportunity to build direct relationships with readers via iPad applications explains why the leading newspapers do pay so much attention to iPad introduction as iPad platform can shape new opportunities to monetize on the content and personalized advertisements.
It is no wonder that among iPad ready websites quite a lot of them belong to magazines and newspapers.
I would bet that the iPad will have as much impact on the publishing industry as the iPod had on the music industry.
