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BREAKING NEWS & VIEWS
Waiting for Apple to Come Down From Mountain Bearing Tablets  reason for the magazine and other media industries to take notice. According to reports on every imaginable site and news outlet, Apple is prepared to announce—if not launch—some sort of oversized iPhone or “tablet” device at a Jan. 26 press conference. The rumors reached a fever pitch over the holiday break when former Google executive Kai-Fu Lee issued a blog post claiming that the Apple Tablet would be a 10.1-inch device that sells for under $1,000. Various reports from Asian parts suppliers say Apple has put in orders for the coming year for a larger-format touch-screen unit. Lee cites his internal Apple source claiming the company is hoping to sell over 10 million units in its first year. Some of Apple’s iPhone software developers have been asked to submit versions of their mobile apps that scale well on screens with larger resolutions. It seems likely that Apple will stick with the horse that brought it to its current success—the app-based platform currently driving the iPhone/iPod Touch devices to staggeringly strong sales. According to reports throughout last year, Apple has been showing newspaper and magazine publishers versions of a 7-inch or 10-inch touch-screen device that could provide them with a better way to digitize their content experiences. Both Time Inc.’s Sports Illustrated and Bonnier have produced video demos of what magazine brands might look like on a larger touch screen, although neither could point to any specific device on the horizon. Incorporating into the iTunes store digitized versions of magazines and newspapers certainly has its appeal to publishers. While not especially adept at merchandising content in its cluttered App Store, Apple has given mobile content developers a much more attractive revenue sharing split (70%/30%) than Amazon reportedly gives its Kindle partners or the mobile phone carriers ever offered branded media. Excitement over the Apple Tablet continues to overlook some obvious challenges, both to the success of the device and to the viability of print brands on it. In-between gadgets are a tough sell. While an oversized iPhone is sexy as all get-out, and it will include a virtual touch-screen keyboard, it can only succeed if enough people accept the device as a replacement for a laptop. A sub-$1,000 price point puts the keyboard-less tablet in direct competition with low-priced laptops that have full Windows functionality and a hard keyboard for everyday input. Whatever its sexiness and enhanced functionality, an Apple Tablet has to go head-to-head with a class of familiar devices that have a better range of use. Virtual touch-screen input is fine for short bursts of typing, but the failure of the Tablet PC demonstrates that people really need a hard keyboard. Digitized magazines and newspapers are at best niche items that consumers have not embraced. The idea of a whiz-bang multimedia magazine, such as the recent SI and Bonnier demos, is a wonderful fantasy for publishers, but there is no evidence that users want them. In fact, if we look to the recent full-issue releases of GQ and Esquire on the iPhone/iPod Touch, neither has taken the App Store by storm. The January issue of GQ is the 88th most popular paid app in the Lifestyle section. Publishers have the unenviable task of convincing readers to adopt a new mode of content consumption, something that sits perhaps uncomfortably between a desktop Web experience and thumbing through print. While traditional media seem to think that an Apple Tablet is being made expressly to save their flagging business models, history also suggests that new platforms breed new competition. The iPhone app ecosystem has already demonstrated how a wave of new companies can quickly and effectively exploit the unique capabilities of new technology as old media brands spend much of their time trying to extend existing brands. In the gaming arena and online dating arenas, for instance, Facebook and mobile app platforms have been populated by companies like Zynga and Zoosk while established media try to play catchup. Apple itself is likely to face some competition in the tablet arena from mobile phone maker HTC. According to reports, HTC is also designing a tablet device, but this is in partnership with Google, perhaps to run either its upcoming Chrome operating system or Android. As publishers look to the Apple Tablet as a possible route to survival in a future of digital media consumption, they may want to consider also the lessons of recent history. Every new digital development also seems to offer old media a new opportunity for failure. If you have breaking news to share please contact Steve Smith at ssmith@accessintel.com More Breaking News & Views
Breaking News & Views Archives COMMENTS
1.
Good piece, Steve, I think you really nailed this. My kids don't seem interested at all in reading magazines on a tablet. They are creating content - and playing it - on highly interactive sites.
Posted by Allan Hoving on Monday, January 4, 2010 @ 02:47 PM
2.
Good analysis. The difficulty is to take the best of the magazine format and the best of the web and combine them to create a superior product - and unfortunately, no one's met the challenge yet.
Posted by Kat Tancock, magazin on Monday, January 4, 2010 @ 03:32 PM
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