Media content is still key Apple iPad target
The Apple iPad tablet computer is just a couple of weeks from shipping and the company is still working hard to secure the deals it needs on media content, including print media and video of all kinds.
Apple is not having the success it anticipated in cutting deals with newspapers, magazines, and book publishers, or the producers for film and television content, according to sources close to the negotiations. Apple is not saying much about problems, trying instead to keep things on a positive and upbeat note on the ramp up to the release of the iPad. However, sources outside the company say that the media deals are not closing as quickly as Apple anticipated, according to a Wall Street Journal story. Given that the iPad is being sold primarily as a media powerhouse, the lack of significant media content at launch could be a thorny problem for Apple.
The primary problem is a lack of commitment to the tablet computer, or any other digital medium, as a replacement for more traditional sources of revenue. Despite an acknowledgement that financial problems are rife in the publishing industry, a theory backed up by the bankruptcy of many newspapers and magazines, publishing companies seem unwilling to give up those failing but familiar sources of income in favor of new business models that may be their salvation. On the television and film side of the equation, produces of visual media seem to be afraid of moving deeper into the mobile entertainment market because it may anger their traditional sales partners, like the television networks and cable companies.
Although there has been much written about the iPad and its ilk being the salvation of the publishing industry, there will be no salvation if the industry itself is afraid to take the leap to mobile digital. Worse, the new Apple mobile device can only save the industry if it sells well, and it will only sell truly well if there is a lot of content available. It is hard to tell which is the chicken and which is the egg, but without Apple and the publishing industry feeding off each other, the iPad could see a less than optimal launch and newspapers and magazines could continue to swirl in the toilet.
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March 21st, 2010
Pretty sure there is no reason for any of the these media companies to be in a hurry to sign the exclusives this early in the process. You only get one iTunes that surprises the industry.
And the iPad is a pretty weak “powerhouse”. Apple obviously is limited in what it can put in a device like this before it steps on sales of low end MacBooks.
I’m betting on Google and the field, who don’t need to worry about careful balancing hardware. You will see SD slots and HD capable playback and a real processor. No swappable battery in a device like this?
Chrome and a usb port and I can use the same digital OTA tuner I do on my little Linux Netbook. Google would seem to be pretty well positioned for this market.
Could be a repeat of Microsoft/The entire field as R&D. But the OS is “free”. Some of the wireless CPUs under development have serious potential in a device for this sector.
The Kindle has shown Apple doesn’t own success in media. Newspapers and Magazines aren’t going to live or die because of the iPad.
March 21st, 2010
How about a 320Gb hard drive for some storage capability? Fuck trying to manage my multimedia content on the amount of memory my phone has. Maybe a dozen movies and a cupla tv shows and the stupid thing is full.