Something I have been wondering for a long time… If you are the same, here is a great article from Julian Lee on the matter:
“The iPad is coming, and hardly anyone knows what to do with it…
From media companies to telcos, the device remains a mystery, writes Julian Lee.
Many in media circles are hailing it as a potential saviour of the industry, a way to let them charge for content until now given away free.
Yet five weeks before its launch in Australia few have even laid eyes on the Apple iPad.
The California company is drip-feeding information about a device that, among other things, will let users view films, surf the web and read ebooks and digitised versions of newspapers and magazines.
Not a single iPad is believed to be on these shores, and few senior executives in the media companies banking on its success admit to having seen it.
Telecommunications companies – which will provide iPad users with the means with which to surf the web or send emails – have yet to finalise their packages. Again few have seen it.
The subject of what ads will look like in the digitised versions of newspapers and magazines and how much they will charge for them has yet to be raised with advertising and media agencies.
Some in the industry are questioning whether the iPad will live up to the hype, given that in the next year seven devices from HP, Dell and a host of cheaper Asian brands will be on the market.
One leading developer said none of the main Australian media companies was likely to meet the late April deadline.
Keith Ahern of Mogeneration said: ”Most of the media companies are already working on iPad apps for some or all of their titles, which surprised me given that we were coming out of a recession.”
But he added: ”I don’t believe any large Australian publishers of print or news media will make the deadline. I think smaller publishers like Medwords and games companies like Firemint will. I have worked with [large media companies] and it’s hard to make things happen quickly.”
Like other developers Ahern’s company has been relying on an iPad simulator to build applications for clients.
Carter’s Encyclopaedia of Health and Medicine published by Medwords will be available. The iBookstore will not be available in Australia at launch because of rights issues.
Larger media companies like Fairfax Media, publisher of the Herald, are keeping the market guessing.
Lloyd Whish-Wilson, chief executive and publisher of Fairfax Media’s Sydney publishing division, said: ”We are very enthusiastic about tablet devices for newspaper and magazines. There’s a lot of planning going into it, and we’ll be ready by the time the market takes off.
”There is potential to extend our journalism in ways that I think readers, and I have no doubt advertisers, will find very exciting.”
Ed Smith, the chief executive content and commercial of News Digital Media, said that, much as he was excited about the possibilities, the iPad was only one of a number of devices to be launched this year. He said the category was likely to grow only once the publishers, telcos and manufacturers ”package them up”.
“Having said that, we do have to be realistic about how quickly the iPad will become mainstream, not least because demand is likely to outstrip supply for some time.
“There’s also little doubt these tablets will be in great demand by advertisers – partly because they will want to reach the engaged, quality, audiences they will attract, but also because they have so much creative potential.”
In the meantime, many publishers are expected to fall back on existing iPhone apps, which will work on the iPad.
As the deadline looms the debate in media companies continues to rage around whether to charge a monthly fee or a one-off fee. The Herald has sold ”many thousands” of its Good Food Guide app for a one-off fee of $11.99. Many more of its Domain app have been downloaded free.
The Wall Street Journal, which with The New York Times has been granted continuous access to the iPad to develop specific apps, is reportedly set to charge $US17.99 ($20) a month to subscribe to the iPad version of its paper.
Mr Smith of News Digital Media said ”when the time is right we will benefit enormously from what our colleagues at The WSJ have learnt”.
Carl Hammerschmidt, director at ACP Magazines’ digital division, said the iPad was one of a number of platforms the company was exploring.
“Our challenge is to ensure we are on the right platforms with the right products and, when it comes to digital magazines, that what we are offering is the leading product in the market … we also have to ensure the business models stack up.”
He would not discuss how close he was to launch, though some media buyers are saying that ACP will offer near-replicas of the printed editions on the iPad. ACP’s chief rival, the Seven Network-owned Pacific Magazines, declined to comment.
Overseas magazines such as Wired, GQ, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker and Glamour are all reported to be ready to go in mid-June. The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times are expected to be the only newspapers ready at launch.
Advertisers such as Coca-Cola, FedEx, Gillette, Volkswagen and Ford are understood to have bought ads on iPad editions or embedded in applications.
Media buying agencies say the topic of advertising rates and types of units has not been discussed in Australia. Toby Jenner, chief executive of the media agency MediaCom, said: ”It’s just not on our radar; in fact I don’t think it’s on the industry’s radar.”
The managing director digital of Mitchell Communications Group, John Murray, said he would get his first presentation of the iPad ”within the week”, but would not say from whom. He was not rushing to push clients into a device that has yet to carve out an audience.
Iain McDonald, founder of the digital advertising agency Amnesia Razorfish, was sceptical of the iPad’s impact, saying that because it was “sandwiched” between an e-reader like Amazon’s Kindle and cheaper laptops, he doubted it would be the game-changing device that the iPhone has become.
But it is the fact that the iPad will not play videos formatted in the industry-standard Flash format – used by most advertisers – that worries him most.
“Absolutely it does,” he said. “We are in the business of creating experiences [online] and if Apple is removing one of them and that affects how video is played then that is not going to help my clients.”
He also doubts whether it will go mass, despite predictions that between 100,000 and 200,000 units, retailing at an entry level price of $650, will be sold by Christmas. “We need to develop eyeballs, not niche audiences,” he said.
While the media and advertising industries have an excuse to hang back, the same cannot be said for the telcos that will be providing one of a number of options that iPad users will turn to for connectivity to the web. On their state of readiness the top three mobile phone operators had little to say.
Optus declined to comment and a Telstra spokesman confirmed the company had yet to see a device.
”We are still talking with Apple and are waiting to hear back from them, as is everyone else.”
A spokesman for Vodafone said: “Unfortunately we can’t make any statements on the iPad and in fact we cannot even confirm whether or not we will be able to sell the iPad in Australia.” He confirmed the company had not seen a device.”
Ride along with JFK, 50 years later.
