“Steve Jobs said people don’t read any more. But Apple is talks with several media companies rooted in print, negotiating content for a “new device.” And they’re not just going for e-books and mags. They’re aiming to redefine print,” Brian Lam reports for Gizmodo.
“Two people related to the NYTimes have separately told me that in June, paper was approached by Apple to talk about putting the paper on a ‘new device,'” Lam reports. “A person close to a VP in textbook publishing mentioned to me in July that McGraw Hill and Oberlin Press are working with Apple to move textbooks to iTunes.”
Lam reports, “I haven’t heard anything about traditional book publishers being approached yet, but given the scope of the rest of the publishing industry’s involvement, it’s not hard to imagine they’re on board as well.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Carl H.” for the heads up.]
The publishing technology for iTunes LP and iTunes Extras that Apple made available to music artists and content providers is at the very least a proof of concept for this publishing direction.
Go Obie! Anything they do with Oberlin Press will be cool!
Save the planet/trees! Go silicon.
I can see it now. You go to itunes newspaper section. Up comes a whole list of many of the major city newspapers. Next to each one will be a weekly price and a “subscribe” button. You subscribe and buy it. then every morning your daily paper will be downloaded to your new iTab, and off to McDonalds you go to eat breakfast and read your paper.
If this is true, it would mesh with the tablet concept. Plus, with print on iTunes, welcome the Apple juggernaut to media. Everyone else is at least a decade behind when it comes to online media stores. No one else can offer all of your media content in one software program. The market is too fragmented.
In order to compete, Microsoft would need to purchase Amazon, Adobe, Palm, among others. Even still, it wouldn’t really be competition for Apple because it wouldn’t work well.
So print is the killer app for the tablet. Who’d a thunk it.
Why does it take an Apple to figure this stuff out? If I can subscribe to National Geographic, the New York TImes (and please, please HBO) on my new Apple tablet device, I’m buying one — even if it doesn’t run Photoshop.
“But Apple is talks with several media companies rooted in print”.
Speaking of magazines and books, is that phrase grammatically correct? Wouldn’t it be better “…Apple is talking to…” where’s the editor?
All depends on the “Device”.
We’re at a similar stage with the Kindle, Sony Reader etc as we were when Apple decided to join the MP3 player market. The market for reading newspapers and books on digital devices will explode but only when it’s shaped to fit on an Apple device.
Ahem . . . Psst
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?
id=328144680&s=143441
Everyone remember to recycle your electrons.
It all sounds great, but it looks to me that all these rumours that seem to have been going for about two years now are building this device up to be something that is extremely unrealistic. This wouldn’t be the first time; same was for the iPhone, and when it came, there was that initial disappointment that it lacked this or that or the other.
Initial reaction to this device, once it is announced, will certainly be muted by those who’ll find some of the wildly rumoured features missing. Obviously, in the end, it will be a spectacular success, much as have been all mobile devices Apple had released since the original iPod (and yes, that in cludes MBA, which still sells extremely well for its place in the market).
The important part, not to be missed, is the strategic positioning for the device as a universal mobile device that is neatly integrated into that massive iTunes eco-system. In addition to the existing music and video content, Apple is now apparently angling for print. I can’t think of any additional type of media that they would need to round out the offering and wipe out competition.
Give them five years, and Amazon will be selling fewer books than Apple (that’s how long it took Apple to outsell Wal-Mart in music).
These days, when Apple knocks on your door, you open it wide, roll out the welcome mat and invite them in
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The iTab will save the publishing industry and reward those first responders who leap into interactive multimedia with enthusiasm and creativity.
Steve Jobs also said people would never watch video on a handheld device.
It’ll be like the “Daily Prophet”, Steve Jobs style!!
I was pretty sure that unless Apple’s tablet is a netbook / crappy PC laptop replacement, it just couldn’t get traction (a “macbook for the rest of them” would do well to capture a huge swath of the PC laptop market). Basically I felt that a “large iPod” wouldn’t find a place in people’s lives unless it ran Mac software.
This approach could very well change that. If you can use this device to subscribe to media (especially periodicals & television) people will snap them up.
Then they can slowly displace laptops. Whether you’re a web-browsing photo emailing grandma or a college kid, with one of these Apple tablets — why bother buying a laptop at all?
One thing that Steve Jobs has learned over the years is to release new products with an intact ecosystem. I don’t think that there is a company now better at this than Apple. Arranging this ecosystem is probably the biggest reason we haven’t yet seen the iTablet. But you can bet when Steve gets on stage to unveil it he will a line of CEO’s ready to come out and demo how their content is now so much cooler and usable on the iTablet.
And think of all the desperate newspapers who can’t seem to find a way to make money on the internets machine. You think they might welcome a new revenue stream? If anyone can get people to pay a reasonable price for something they have been getting for free before it’s Apple.
@Les S, exactly. Media never figured out how to monetize their content on the internet. For the “accounts recievable” departments at television networks and newspapers, it’s like the internet revolution never happened.
Apple’s app store (now with in-app upgrades/subscriptions) has solved that in one shot. People are actually paying for content on their iPhones.
Kindle was known as the iPod for books.
So what the hell is Apple doing?
They found a way to do Kindle in Color?
@ mike
Download the Mayhem iTunes LP and see if that fits your definition of Kindle in Color
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum? id=328144680&s=143441
Another Obie here. Very glad to hear of their involvement.
Lightweight low-power devices for receiving content, heavier higher-power devices for creating it. Makes sense.
Paper is dead – eighty percent of it is recycled unread. What a waste!
@NYT: You have the best website. Be the first to embrace the new wave and survive, nay, thrive, through the coming wipeout. I’ll be the first to subscribe from overseas if the model and pricing is right.