Pixies, the Tooth Fairy and Big Foot have got nothing on Apple’s word of mouth phenomenon. The iPad was finally revealed today and brought the myth to a glorious Steve Jobs crescendo.
Under-spec’d, over-priced, underwhelming? Whatever. This thing is a glimpse of the future and it’s exciting – for some.
It’s certainly another nail in the coffin of traditional newspaper business. Take The Guardian for example: sales of 350,000 daily printed broadsheets need to pay for the 30 million visitors to their website (plus online ads, granted).
The iPad is another bullet the industry must’ve hoped to dodge. With ubiquitous use of smart phones, eReaders and tablets just around the corner, the physical paper is in the ICU. Long live the tree.
Wednesday was also the 100th anniversary of the death of Thomas Crapper, the man who revolutionised the flushing lavatory. Timely metaphor anyone?
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi Nick, I thought you may make a post about the iPad, although it kinda sounds like something my partner would use once amonth.
First I heard about it was this morning when I saw a pic on a business magazine that looked like an umpah loompah was holding an iPhone.
Is it much more than a bigger iPod Touch?
Hey Phil, it’s much bigger than an iPod Touch mate. It’s notebook size and that’s the killer.
I’ve been really close to buying a notebook for travelling (excellent battery life & far more usable than a smart phone) but this is now the kit I’ll wait for. It wont replace laptops or smart phones but it’s gonna hurt like hell for notebook and kindle sales.
iPad is flawed (no camera etc) but real problem is Apple’s *closed* environment. Ultimately, Google’s Android is set to have the bigger future.
Hello senior Fluck,
I will certainly be buying one when they come out. For me, the days of the page turning paper novel are running out. With publication costs coming down and authors royalties going up as a result of the reduced, and currently excessive overheads, this can surely only be an improvement for the literary world…….