“There are electronic reading devices in existence already, such as Sony’s e-Reader and Amazon’s Kindle. But, publishers hope the unquestioned design talents of Apple will ensure that its latest product is the vehicle that enables them to transform their business models,” Burrell reports. “After all, the iPod has converted millions to the idea of paying to download songs and, to a degree, has revived the music industry, becoming the world’s largest music retailer in the process. The iPhone has created a culture of acquiring apps for ‘just about anything,’ many of them paid for.”
Burrell reports, “Newspaper content is already being widely consumed on smart mobile phones but mostly for free. With a touch screen of 10-11 inches, the Apple tablet presents publishers of all kinds with the opportunity to create an entirely new reader experience, one that consumers might be persuaded to pay for.”
“Jobs and his team are in talks with Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, the New York Times Co. and magazine publishers such as Conde Nast and television networks including CBS and Disney,” Burrell reports. “The New York Times this week announced that it would be demanding payment for access to its website and industry observers say that the newspaper publisher is discussing with Apple whether it could begin charging for news through iTunes.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]
If you’ve seen the Sports Ilustrated demo of a potential tablet magazine then you understand that the tablet is the merger of print DESIGN with electronic display (and much more of course)…but the TOOLS to produce that design, specific to the tablet format? What are they? It’s not FLASH (Apple and many others hate it). It’s not InDesign or Illustrator… Is it AJAX (a hybrid of javascript and other technologies), or HTML5? OR is it Pages on steroids? or a completely new design tool that enables print style design on a tablet format? With import and export tools for other publishing platforms…
That would make enormous sense since it would lock publishers into the device and platform and preserve the ability to take the end product out to the web.
WHAT IS THE PUBLISHING TOOL USED TO CREATE MAGAZINES ON THE TABLET?
I agree with Maki. Technology companies need to stop making fancy new devices with new ‘specs’. This is the bane of our existence. Just stop. I was perfectly happy with 8-track. Now we have 9 blades.
Okay, let’s say we’re fine with mp3s b-cuz we have them now — but no more innovation after that. 2 blades are all a man really needs. Does he really need the best a man can get? And are 9 blades really the best? Why stop there?
I think reports of the death of publishing (printing, actually) have been greatly exaggerated. Not all magazines are in crisis, and not all magazines or printed content depend on subscribers.
On another note: PR, please do not make your whole comment bold. It is just one step down in annoying from ALL CAPS. Imagine if everyone did that.