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What is the Ultimate Role of the Apple Tablet?
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But if Apple releases a tablet which focus on e-reader, it's totally sick - there is no market for it. It is clear as hell that they will make a tablet that focuses on several other areas.
E-books? No one cares about that.
It is simply a better and bigger Iphone. And it is FACT.
Realize it.
But the thing is, even if publishers end up having to charge consumers more for the "upgraded" print media experience (or whatever you wanna call it) on a tablet, I think people are going to pay for it. The general public will spend the money if it has enough of the "cool" factor that most people in here are expecting.
Also, it's not just pressing a flat surface to turn a page that's significant with this tablet. Sure, you can just take your laptop around and read the newspapers and magazine articles that you want to. And people will still do that when this comes out. But you have to think outside the box here. Having the tablet experience and a print industry that follows the lead of this tablet means much more. Think of the AppStore on the iPhone. Thousand and thousands of apps you can search for at your fingertips. There were several games I've never heard of before (Enigmo, Fantastic Contraption) that had already been out a long while and I only ended up hearing about them and buying them thanks to the AppStore. Now put that into context with a tablet. You can find books, magazines, newspapers or whatever it may be right at your fingertips. You like something you see, you click, and now you're subscribed. It's simple.
Again, like you said, you can already do this with laptops and computers in general. But if Apple, like they did with iTunes and the AppStore, can get the print industry to jump on board with this tablet thing, the experience and simplicity will much more than just being able to read something on a thin, electronic device.
Convenience, user experience, AND the "cool" factor, if done right, will make this tablet thing very successful.
It will be more than just a kindle. It will be a kindle with the same features as an iPhone. (Video, internet browsing, e-mail, music player, maybe 3G, apps ect.) and it is pointing to companies actually being able to sell magazine, comic or newspaper subscriptions through the device. So it wont be anywhere near a "real computer", but it will still be much more than just another kindle.
I think this will work well with the market after a year and a half for everyone to make digital copies of things (newspapers magazines), apps, and for the price of it to go down 20%-30% so more people can afford it, kind of like what happened with the iPod Touch when it came out ($300 down to $230).
Just my 2¢
I think this will work well with the market after a year and a half for everyone to make digital copies of things (newspapers magazines), apps, and for the price of it to go down 20%-30% so more people can afford it, kind of like what happened with the iPod Touch when it came out ($300 down to $230).
Just my 2¢
whY would anyone pay for magazine or newspaper subscriptions when they can read the same magazines and newspapers on the web for free?
Even if we did hit your target, we would still have a long ways to go to match the all-time record of 2,136 replies to the legendary Online Ad Evidence of Imminent iMac, Mac Mini and MacBook Updates? thread of October 2009.
Because they won't be able to read on the web for free when a model to monetize their content becomes available. Most recently, newsday.com is now behind a pay wall for most content. It's like the 10th largest newspaper in the country. More will follow.
The fact is that you can't read the same content online for free. You can read some of the same content, but only about half of what is published in the dead tree edition.
My local papers put about oh, 1/10th of their content online. It's not very helpful to find out any NEWS, and it's often only the "human interest" types of stories.
I'm not sure how much i'd pay for "full" local news - but anything would be an improvement over what they do.
Oh, and I TRIED to subscribe to the paper. They allege they can't find my house - the neighbor told me she tried for 7 YEARS to get it and finally quit trying. Same here....
iCon?
The tablet will allow better UI for watching movies, playing games, running Apps and be more portable and fun than a laptop. It will connect all of these areas of activity.
I don't really like iSlate, but think the name iCon (short for iConnect) would be a great namesake for this new product. After all, it's usually only once in a lifetime that a true iCon is born.
The tablet will allow better UI for watching movies, playing games, running Apps and be more portable and fun than a laptop. It will connect all of these areas of activity.
I don't really like iSlate, but think the name iCon (short for iConnect) would be a great namesake for this new product. After all, it's usually only once in a lifetime that a true iCon is born.
Like you pointed out later, a lot of websites do post up in-depth feature pieces. Ars Technica comes to mind. Why is it only the tech community as realised this ? Why is it most news websites with good fast and in-depth content are mostly tech sites ?
Because tech sites are tech savvy. A new format isn't needed, esquire could put up the same in-depth features in a pay for section on their site.
They could also offer offline browsing. Seriously, there's nothing magic about the web. You could take snapshots and pack them up for download as static content that can be read offline. Microsoft already has a good format for that with mht that they use for help files. It's basically just images/html/css/javascript all packed together as a 1 file archive. Heck, a zip file with the whole tree of the site could be made, and a simple reader that just unpacks it behind the scenes and you've got your "periodical" and your up to date web content, all in 1 format. Much easier to manage.
No DRM, no new proprietary format that locks your content to 1 platform. All open web, open standards, accessible content, all you need is to bring your own browser. And you can make money off of it if you bother.
That fact that most publishers don't do this (maybe in the states, Quebecor Media has pretty much adopted the Web for all its publications, even it's TV channel broadcasts everything on the web) is probably a case of ignorance more than that it can't be done (because it can). Some dinosaurs in the industry just don't want to change.
For the same reason that people buy apps that are better than their free versions... More things that you can do, probably put in less ads. or they will just make even more of their content cost money instead of it being free.
The pay walls will crumble for everything but the most specialized publications, because as long a there is free competition, readers will go there. If newsday charges, people will read the daily news for free.
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iCon... Or is that a con as in a rip off!!?!
We know steve Jobs has shelves the tablet numerous times. Therefor if he's now ready to release something then he must have something he and the other board members feel will be a win. A big iphone will not be it. It's going to be
much more. I'm sure it will be used for Reading news and books but again that bit going to be it big draw. There is something else.
magicmode said:
iCon... Or is that a con as in a rip off!!?!
We know steve Jobs has shelves the tablet numerous times. Therefor if he's now ready to release something then he must have something he and the other board members feel will be a win. A big iphone will not be it. It's going to be
much more. I'm sure it will be used for Reading news and books but again that bit going to be it big draw. There is something else.
it's obvious one of the uses for the tablet will be as an e-book reader. The form factor alone lends itself to that task. Will it be the primary focus? No; just one of many -- music, movies, TV subscriptions on-the-go, and, of course, games. Perhaps all in the cloud and accessible anywhere (recall that the theme for the rollout is "mobility").
It's going to be your personal media center.
It's going to be your personal media center.
Same can be said for Movies, Music, Magazines, Books, News outlets heck, restaurants, clothes, sporting goods, food etc...
Life is a choice. Most manufacturers/publishers/vendors/retailers offers way to preview what you are buying before you buy it. There's advertising, in-store displays, reviews, etc... etc..
I don't see how that as to be different with Websites. A free section gives you a preview of the content in the pay section. Sometimes it's an accurate representation, sometimes it's over-marketed and you find out you payed for something shoddy.
I really don't see how this is any kind of argument for an iTunes Magazine format. It's going to be the same thing. How will you know which ones are worth paying for ? It's going to end up the same on that front.
I still see no worthwhile argument to return to the old periodical, paper based print only in a PDF format. It makes no sense. The Web is the new print media, embrace it, it's already here.
If that's the case, then why does Apple pay Amazon for their audiobook downloads? Audible is the service providers for Apple's audiobooks. Audible is owned by Amazon.
I could see them extending the deal if they didn't want to get into the hassle of dealing with publishers. A built-in Kindle app on the home screen?
Again for up to the minute news and all Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton, Heidi Montag and whatever news that is definitely true.
For real quality reporting there is no free alternative (except tech sites as KnightWRX pointed out) as the production and breadth of the articles requires too much money to finance through clicks on banners.. This will not work.
A magazine works by upfront payment of all material in the issue by the customer. Whether you look at an ad in a magazine doesn't matter. Moving this model to the digital space makes sense and is viable.
Excellent point, and one that hasn't received nearly enough attention in this thread's sea of replies.
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
That's what I am not reading a lot of within this and other threads... the perception that people are ready to pay up pretty well for this Tablet AND pay up for the subscriptions to print media. Instead, I read a lot of people imagining huge cuts in the costs of print subscriptions. Relative to this, I wonder if the "cool" factor will be enough to sell this thing to the masses- especially if all that print media is ALSO available to devices they already own (hooked to iTunes).
But there's the key difference. My assumption is that this print media IS going to be available to non-Tablet devices like laptops, much like DVD and TV show media now. App stores apps are exclusive to iPhones & iPod Touch. If this print media avalanche of coming content is also exclusive to this Tablet, then I can see a more obvious reasons for people wanting content as served that way to buy a Tablet. But then, if I'm a struggling print media company, aren't I going to want my e-publication sold as broadly as possible (not just on the Tablet, but also on all the other iTunes connected devices.... just like I see DVDs & TV shows being sold)?
If you believe all this new content will be Tablet-exclusive, then there's a definite tangible driver for Tablet sales. I'm not believing that content would be Tablet-only, which is why I have a hard time imagining wanting to own a Tablet for people- like me- that might already have a few other iTunes-connected devices.
But once again, I'd love to be pleasantly surprised.
Very cool if all this content at my fingertips is only at them when using a Tablet. But if it is also available to my laptop, etc, it will be just about as simple to get it that way, save the $799 (price I'm guessing), etc.
I think it will be very easy to get ANY industry to want to sell their stuff through iTunes. It is a cheap, "new" channel to the masses. If Apple would let companies sell panty-hose or yo-yos via iTunes, such stuff would quickly appear there. I have no doubt that a struggling print industry will love to try to sell their publications through a new section on iTunes. I'd even say, that's a given. My hangup continues to be why I might want to consume these paid subscription publications via a Tablet instead of through other iTunes-connected devices I already own.
The best way to overcome that issue is to hook this print e-media to the Tablet like Apps to the iPhone/Touch... meaning EXCLUSIVELY available via the Tablet. Then, you got a compelling, very tangible reason for those hungry for this hardware/software gadget. How many see it going that way?
And yet magazines are going out of business due to the web, too. Those that aren't out of business yet are trying everything they can to stay in business, including redesigns (Newsweek), and relying on their websites for added income.
Clearly people aren't willing to pay for this supposed "quality reporting."
Frankly speaking, there's also the factor that he was only a week or two away from being dead earlier this year.
I was in his position a few years ago. It makes you focus on what's most important to you, and what needs to be done quickly.
Perhaps he just doesn't want to wait any longer.
The ultimate role of the Apple Tablet -- or any other product for that matter -- is to increase shareholder value.
Or, it's to show everyone how it *should* have been done in the first place. That, eventually, leads to yor increase in shareholder value as well.
Its because they are relying on the advertising, which doesn't supposedly matter. Perhaps they should dump all of their advertising staff and rely on subscriptions alone.