Apple is About to Save the Printed Media Industry
From a 1910 school book predicting technology in the Year 2000.
I put on my prognostication beanie and this is what it told me:
Apple is about to release a “media tablet”. It will run the about-to-be-released third version of the iPhone OS. It will have a 9″ or 10″ color screen and have the same type of onscreen keyboard that the iPhone has. You will also be able to connect Apple’s new, smaller, Bluetooth keyboard and use that. It will also have a single USB port so you may use a USB keyboard.
The new micro-payment features of iPhone OS 3.0 is perfectly suited for this new Apple “media tablet” to be a competitor for Amazon’s Kindle. Apple will begin selling digital version of e-books, magazines, newspapers, and even textbooks through the iTunes store. Want just one issue of something, just buy one. Want a monthly or yearly subscription? Not a problem.
Apple is poised to do for the printed media market what is has done for the music industry and (to a lesser extent) the film/tv industry. What’s been lacking is the existence of a well-designed tool and distribution system for the purchasing and consumption of electronic versions of printed media. Technically, it will be very easy for Apple to extend the iTunes Store to include electronic versions of printed media. The hurdle, as it was with both the music and film/tv industries, will be whether the content providers will embrace the inevitible shift to electronic consumption of their goods. It’s clear to me that those companies that do not are doomed to failure and extinction. The smartest and most forward-looking content providers are already figuring out ways to get their content on the iPhone and the Kindle. Apple’s new device will be the tipping point. Five years from now (perhaps even sooner!), students will think nothing of carrying around their textbooks, homework assignments, magazine subscriptions, and newspapers in something like Apple’s coming “media tablet.”
Develop and release game-changing, paradigm-shifting technology. It has become a simple but successful formula for Apple and I don’t see any reason why they would change their S.O.P. now. Everyone knows that the old media industry is dying. Newspapers are closing. Magazine subscriptions are in freefall. Its salvation lies with the difficult but necessary transition to electronic publishing. Many will not be able to adapt and will fail. Those that remain will emerge stronger.
Apple is about to save the printed media industry…at least those companies that are smart enough to get aboard the salvation train as it comes barrelling through the station. It’s coming. Are you ready?
I even have a pretty good idea for what they’ll call the device. It’s so simple and obvious, most people have overlooked the possibility. Let’s not forget that Apple already owns the name and trademark for “iBook.”
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May 4th, 2009 at 9:29 pm
I sure hope this happens
May 5th, 2009 at 2:08 am
As much as I see a future – and a bright one – for kindle & ibook, I fail to see what they improve compared to paper books and magazines. Just a few points:
-> Steal or break a magazine will no make you cry.
-> Apple will make digital distribution as expensive as paper distribution
-> Magazines do not need power refill
-> I do not need more than 1-2 magazines or books with me
These points will remain valid over time, and will balance the distribution market between paper and digital.
May 5th, 2009 at 5:49 am
When it comes to technology, Apple doesn’t innovate just to make awesome stuff. Steve Jobs said years ago that they were building a phone and many other devices and technologies, and that none of them would see the light of day if it doesn’t fix something that is painfully broken. They didn’t just release a digital music player. They release a digital music solution for the agony of getting music on to your computer in a managable way and quickly syncing to a player. iPhoto fixed the “chain of pain”: downlading photos from your camera, managing them, and then sharing them without worrying about color accuracy (especially printing). MacBook Air: ultra-portable without performace compromise. iMovie: same as iPhoto.
When it comes to new technology, Apple’s self-proclaimed MO is “fix a problem.” I just don’t see the problem with magazines and news papers and books. The cost of these things is not the actual printing. It’s the labor, which won’t ago away. What you save in shipping, Apple will eat up with Its 30%. you can’t scribble notes in the column. You can’t put coupons in. And even if I could see why Penguin Books would want to publish to digital, why would I (me, this guy) buy it? Newspapers are free or REALLY cheap. Books aren’t any cheaper digitally than in print. And I don’t have to worry about losing them. I just don’t see anything broken, from us consumers’ point of view that Apple needs to fix. If Apple is intoducing a Media Tablet, there is a broader issue that they are addressing.
The question is: would you buy one? Honestly? Would you spend a few hundred dollars on one? Would you actually use it? And would it be worth it to you? More people, I think, would say that about digital music than the would about digital books, even before the iPod.
May 5th, 2009 at 8:22 am
Working in a big media company, I can confirm that we’re actively looking at ways of selling the content in more efficient ways. Micro-payments (a free version and 30 cents for the complete version) would be the killer feature.
May 8th, 2009 at 9:36 pm
so i’m assuming that there would be some kind of DRM protecting each file, you know, because sharing isn’t profitable.
haha… I can see it now, damn newspaper pirates