fix journalism a conversation about journalism’s future

Author: Michael Higdon | 01.27.2010

I obviously can’t say a whole lot now because the release of Apple’s iPad is still 60 days away and we’ve only seen a snippet of the new New York Times app which has been said to like Times Reader application.

About a year ago, I and many others suggested making an iTunes for newspapers but we see now that that might not be such a great idea considering the music industry and a million other blog posts about paying for stories.

iTunes also would prohibit the type of content possible and revenue potential considering Apple would become a distributor and the interface would be locked into Apple’s design.

So without a whole lot of predictions and turning myself into a fool, I’m going to say the iPad represents another platform or perhaps a more flexible mobile platform for news content.

If news companies are able to create their own reading/viewing environments for the iPad, then I think that’s a good thing.

Will it save journalism? Pft. No. But it opens up to yet another market and business model/revenue potential.

The iPad market is not the same as the iPhone market, that’s why they are so similar. The iPad is another, more or less, entry-level device built on the same concepts as the iPhone and iTouch. I don’t think Apple imagined someone would have an iPhone, an iPod, and an iPad that all sync with a PC or MacBook. Some Apple obsessed folks might have all that but it’s unlikely.

They are different machines and appeal to different people. So it’s faulty to compare them insofar as market and target audience. They also move in different directions. The iPhone is very much a personal device while future iterations of the iPad are looking to be shared devices for family, friends and business.

To the point though, the iPad is yet another big wide open door journalism can step through or trip in front of.  I would point to the NYT iPad app or the iBooks app as an interesting model to adapt to your own. The iPhone and iPad allow for nearly limitless possibilities with their apps. 

I can sync my iPhone to my DSLR camera and change its settings and live view a scene using a single app. Or I can play games and check my mail. I can store 200GB a month on an iDisk, affectively expanding the memory of my iPhone by almost 1000x. Or I can write this blog on an iPhone or iPad.

I pose these questions: What will your news company do when the iPad comes to town? How will you use the iPad to make your news more interactive, interesting and relevant? How will you use it to design your news better and make it more exciting to read?

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As a fun side note, I think the iPad is a tragic name considering “iTampon” is a trend on Twitter and “iPad” is not. I vote to rename it “iTab” or “iFeel”