MagBlog: iPad: fourth thought

Friday, January 29, 2010

iPad: fourth thought

In what may, or may not, be the last of these post-launch reflections on the Apple iPad, here is some information gathered by Steve Smith of Mobile Insider.

Smith interviewed a number of industry figures and came to the conclusion that :

More than anything, this is a media consumption device. I am actually fairly shocked at how little this device is informed by person-to-person communication and interactivity. It is really a lean-back device. With a keypad that is going to be a challenge under any scenario and no camera for video-blogging, the iPad doesn't even have some of the basic blogging and posting tools Apple encourages on its Mac platform.

But Dan Flanegan of BrandinHand says this is exactly the in-between device that finalizes his shift of media consumption from analog to digital. "The iPad completes my content consumption transformation," he says. "To this point my iPhone and MacBook Pro have pulled me away from traditional broadcast entertainment and news. The iPad completes this, giving me a place for books, magazines, newspapers right alongside a better experience for TV and movies."

Flanegan is a true believer that this is the beginning of the end of paper. "I can see how my kids will consume media in their lifetime. Goodbye newsprint, annoying business reply card inserts and six-inch thick Stephen King novels. Hello, content anywhere! What took you so long?"

Read the whole article on the Media Post site.