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BREAKING NEWS & VIEWS
Top 5 Things Publishers Should Know About the iPad 2 LaunchFriday, March 11, 2011 The lines of Apple fan boys will form to the left, please. We don’t know if the usual press-worthy  onslaught of consumers will hit Apple stores today as the hotly anticipated iPad 2 goes on sale at 5 pm. And truth be told, Apple’s refresh of the hardware that took us all by storm over the last year is more modest than some had hoped. But does any of it matter to publishers? Admittedly, we haven’t gotten our own hands on the new model (any time you want to send us one Apple, we’re right here). But the specs for the new unit offer some obvious advantages for publishers, and the concurrent release of the iOS 4.3 version has some important additions for all apps running on iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad.1. Smile, You’re on iPad Camera: Early reviews bemoan the relative low quality of the iPad 2’s new front and rear-facing cams. But the fact that they do make video/image input part of the platform experience is worth noting. The iPhone, of course, has had imaging capabilities for years, but it is disappointing that so few publishers leverage user-generated multimedia in their apps. After all, your readers now have a multimedia-making machine in their hands. One has to wonder what enterprising and creative publisher will fold video or photo input into their magazine app for the iPad? Put yourself on the cover of Vogue, perhaps? 2. Think Ubiquity: With distribution partnerships now in place with AT&T and Verizon, Apple is going to start marketing the 3G models harder. While the WiFi version of the iPad 1 was the big hit, look for increased emphasis on an even more mobile tablet with connectivity everywhere and greater use of location awareness. 3. AirPlay Televises Your Content: The enhanced AirPlay system in iOS 4.3 lets owners of Apple TV set top boxes push video playing on their iPad or iPhone directly to the TV screen. Unlike the first iteration of AirPlay, this version can run in third-party apps…like yours. While little more than a million Apple TVs are in market, this handset/tablet-to-TV functionality will proliferate to other network-enabled TV equipment and it will put your brand’s digital video content in where it always yearned to be…the living room. Those luscious celeb and runway galleries in your enhanced digital magazines? Now, they can be pushed to the big screen for group viewing. 4. Speed Thrills: Early reviews suggest that the iPad 2’s new core processor chews through app loads and multitasking like a hot knife through butter. Ultimately, that is good for content. History shows that increases in speed and bandwidth encourage greater content consumption. Our feeling is that performance (or lack thereof) is a subtle but important factor in user habits. People have a memory for programs that load and operate slower, and they tend to use them less. We are still not entirely happy with the iPad Safari Web browsing performance, however. While there is some incremental improvement in the new iOS 4.3 upgrade we are using, browser speed remains a vulnerability of the iPad that Android and Blackberry tablets can exploit. 5. The Good-Enough Upgrade: At the risk of offending the many lovers of Google’s open source approach to Android, Apple has raised the bar just enough to ensure that rivals will be eating its dust at least for the next year. With a firm hold on cheaper supply, an enormous lead in app depth and quality, and enough “cool factor” to last at least another two years, the iPad will remain the tablet platform of choice for consumers and publishers through 2011, at least. If you have breaking news to share please contact Steve Smith at ssmith@accessintel.com
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