The iPad and College Media – first impressions

By Bryan, on January 28th, 2010

the unicorn pony Yesterday was a fascinating day in technology, as Apple unveiled another of its “revolutionary” products. I listened to Leo LaPorte’s streaming audio of the presentation and followed along with gdgt.com’s live updates.

I suppose this is the point at which I should weigh in and say how the iPad (horrible name) will either change publishing or be another flop. Many others, far brighter and more intelligent than I, have already done so.

The truth is, I don’t know. I’ve said many times before on this blog that at some point a device will come along that will draw students away from the printed product. Is this it? I don’t know. Truth is, nobody will know anything for at least 60 days (that’s when Apple will start delivery).

And as much as Martin Nisenholtz of the New York Times wants to talk about how great the Times’ app for the iPad is, nobody’s really seen it in action, so it’s a lot of vaporware.

It’s easy to talk about how much the iPad will spur media to innovate (look at the links above), but the World Wide Web was supposed to do that, too. As was the iPhone. Everything is supposed to cause media companies to really focus on innovating their storytelling ways, but they haven’t done it so much. They talk a good game, and produce a few nice baubles, but mostly it’s cranking out the same old same old. Ditto college media.

Any talk at this point about whether this is going to change the game for college media outlets is pie in the sky. The iPad isn’t going to deliver a magical unicorn pony, no matter what Steve Jobs says. But I’ve been wrong before (see Twitter, circa 2007), so I’m not going out on a limb here.

One thing I will mention: If I had the programming chops, I’d be developing an app that would make it easy for college news outlets to put their content on this thing. I’d make it relatively cheap (monthly subscriptions?) and available day one. I’d call it the “College Newsstand” or something, and sign up as many as possible. Anyone who knows how to do that, I’ve just given you a job for the next few years, assuming this thing takes off.

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davepond 4 months ago 1 point
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At NC State, we put the iPad in the hands of five student bloggers to see what they really think. The results were surprising... it seems universally loathed as a educational resource so far.

Check it out:
http://www.ncsu.edu/features/tag/ipad/

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CoreyConner 7 months ago 1 point
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I don't think that the iPad will radically change publishing, but I do think that over time the tablet format will. When it first comes out the iPad will be too expensive for people to go out and buy on a whim. Over time though cost will go down and more people will be willing to buy a tablet, either the iPad or possibly an Android-powered Google tablet. Apple will still have to convince people to give in to their locked app store, but they haven't had much trouble with that concerning the iPhone.

The tablets will definitely give e-book readers competition. The problem with e-book readers, such as the Kindle, is their size, response time, and lack of color. Color e-ink technology that can refresh quickly and take advantage of multi-touch technology is really the next step.

The iPad will be interesting and I plan on picking one up, but I don't plan on it being revolutionary.

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pariuri sportive 6 months ago 1 point
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Ipad is too expensive for what is offering. When Ipad wil have multitasking it will be interesting to buy it but in the form it is now it`s not worthing

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imarcw 7 months ago 2 points
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I don't think it will save print media any more than the iPod "saved" the music industry. If there were no iPod, by 2010 we would still be owning, sometimes buying, most of our music as MP3's and the record companies would still be trying to put the toothpaste back into the tube. We'd just be listening to them on less-sexy devices. The iPad might make it easier to get one's news online, but people will probably continue to do so in ever greater numbers, with or without one.

On the iPhone, you needed either an app or a mobile-friendly version of your site for your content to be easy to read, but standard newspaper Web pages will look just fine in the iPad's built-in browser with hardly any tweaking. The real reason to make an iPad app would be to deliver premium ad content, the kind for which advertisers would be willing to pay a premium price. Then, if iPad-like devices really take off -- colleges start requiring them, students start buying their textbooks in digital format to use on them -- a student publication, with no newsstand and few subscription sales to lose, could pull the plug on their printing presses and never look back.

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Pierce 7 months ago 1 point
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Part of the problem has always been that newspaper companies have shown little interest in innovating for the Web or the e-readers, and thus the colleges don't put a premium on teaching those skills. Plus I think newspaper people (and I am one) need to stop thinking the next tech innovation will be the one that saves newspapers and get right with tech on tech's terms. Continually wishing that things will return to the way they were is counterproductive. Accept that if print survives at all it's going to be a niche product (like photographic film is today) and adjust the business model accordingly (or get out of the business altogether).

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Ben Leis 7 months ago 1 point
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Abilene Christian University with their ongoing relationship with Apple will be the first to publish their student newspaper on the iPad...here is the press release: http://ow.ly/11ntC and here is the Campus Technology article on ACU's overall efforts in exploring mobile learning: http://ow.ly/11nqq

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