With Steve Jobs scheduled to hold a much-anticipated press event on Wednesday, Apple Tablet rumors have hit a fever pitch, with some going so far as to say this device could very well SAVE PUBLISHING!
Now, I have to come clean here. As a journalist who has anxiously watched the newspaper industry flail about in search of a new “business model” (I have grown to despise this phrase), I too have harbored a secret hope that Apple could very well save my industry with this magical, fantastical new device.
Yes! Imagine if you will, a whole new paradigm where news is delivered to your very own somewhat full-sized screen, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week; where you can read articles longer than 250 words (because the screen isn’t the size of your thumb!); where news is packaged in an interactive way, allowing you to watch in-depth videos, audio slideshows and the like all at your fingertips; a device that makes news matter again. It’s not an e-reader, or a mini television, it’s not even a smartphone, it’s a whole … new … kind … of … online … experience! All made possible by the Apple’s iWhatchamacallit!
First, let’s acknowledge that none of us knows exactly what the tablet is. Whether it’s an iPad (ewww), iSlate, iTablet or even iBook, it remains unclear whether we’ll be presented with an enhanced iPhone device, Apple’s answer to the e-reader, or really just a mini laptop (boo!) Chances are, however, that Apple won’t be re-inventing the wheel in any way, but rather completely changing the rules of the game. Such are our expectations…
Now, back to the future of journalism … Given my completely overblown expectations of the new Apple thingamabob, it was with ENORMOUS pleasure that I read Kirk McElhearn’s article in Macworld today claiming that this device, to be unveiled in just two days, will in fact save journalism.
McElhearn, who says the “future of news” is closely tied to the “end of free” (content that is), predicts that Apple’s newfangled device will usher in a new age whereby users will be willing to pay for online news content, just as users adapted to paying for mp3s of music.
“Newspapers and magazines will be able to package their content in multimedia bundles (either as apps or something similar to the iTunes LP) that will be designed for reading on a portable screen; this won’t simply be web pages viewed on a smaller screen,” writes McElhearn.
Yessss!
McElhearn predicts that soon enough, with the right hardware (aforementioned Tablet thingee) and the right software (the pre-existing iTunes store), readers will be purchasing e-versions of their favorite newspapers, magazines and books going forward. Not only is this greener for the planet, but it’s also cheaper for publishers to produce. (We told you about Esquire’s experiments with this kind of delivery last month.)
“New publishing experiments will be part of the attraction for this new device, and, in the near future, most major newspapers and magazines will offer tablet versions,” writes McElhearn. “And with them, a return to being able to provide the news we need.”
Dare we dream? Oh, Apple, we need it so!
Photo courtesy of Mike McCaffrey via Flickr.
