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Apple iPad: My interview on BBC

By | January 28, 2010, 9:35pm PST

Summary: I told the BBC yesterday that the iPad has the potential to single handedly save newspapers. Here’s the interview.

I’ve embedded a clip (above) of my interview yesterday about the iPad on the BBC’s Newshour with James Menendez. I stand behind my statement that Apple has the potential to single handedly save newspapers with the iPad, much like the iPod and iTunes Store rescued the music industry in 2001.

Hyperbole or did I get it right?

Discuss.

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Topics

Apple iPad, British Broadcasting Corp., Apple Inc., Digital Media, Consumer Electronics, Personal Technology, Jason D. O'Grady

Jason O'Grady is a journalist and author specializing in mobile technology. He has published six books on Apple and mobile gadgets and his PowerPage blog has been publishing for over 15 years.

Disclosure

Jason D. O'Grady

Jason D. O'Grady is the creator and editor of O'Grady's PowerPage, which has been publishing mobile technology news since 1995. He maintains an advertising relationship with the following legacy advertisers on the PowerPage:

  • Amazon Associates
  • Google Adsense
  • Tekserve

    • Advertising on the PowerPage is brokered by a third-party agency (BackBeat Media) and he recuses himself from these negotiations.

Biography

Jason D. O'Grady

Jason D. O'Grady developed an affinity for Apple computers after using the original Lisa, and this affinity turned into a bona-fide obsession when he got the original 128 KB Macintosh in 1984.

He started writing one of the first Web sites about Apple (O'Grady's PowerPage) in 1995 and is considered to be one of the fathers of blogging. He has been a frequent speaker at the Macworld Expo conference and a member of the conference faculty. He also co-founded the first dedicated PowerBook User Group (PPUG) in the United States.

After winning a major legal battle with Apple in 2006, he set the precedent that independent journalists are entitled to the same protections under the First Amendment as members of the mainstream media.

O'Grady is the author of The Nexus One Pocket Guide, The Droid Pocket Guide, The Google Phone Pocket Guide, and The Garmin nuvi Pocket Guide (Peachpit Press), the author of Corporations That Changed the World: Apple Inc. (Greenwood Press), and a contributor to The Mac Bible (Peachpit Press). In addition, he has contributed to numerous Mac publications over the years, including MacWEEK, Macworld, and MacPower (Japan).

When he's not writing about Apple for ZDNet at The Apple Core, he enjoys spending time with his family in New Jersey.

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Well, considering that...
zkiwi 31st Jan 2010
Your posts seem to indicate that anything Apple sucks, it's hard to take your current "opinion" on this iPad thingy with much more than a grain of salt. Oh, and I guess you probably have the HR "5 years of experience" on the iPad so you could tell us "the facts" on a product that's out in March/April.

Either that, or you'll be waiting in line outside an Apple store around then.
View in thread
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Comparing it to the iPod
Theli 28th Jan 2010
I suppose it's a fairly easy argument to make.
The products are made by the same company, they
have a very similar name, and they use a
similar method of content distribution.

However, the iPad is introduced into a
completely different market than the iPod. We
all own devices with Internet capabilities that
allows us to read the news online. They are
called laptops.

It would be sort of like the first iPod being
released in the year 2010 where we already have
cellphones and smartphones that serves as
competent music players.

You could of course argue that a device
dedicated to reading newspapers and books will
offer a better user experience than a laptop,
but Apple's position in offering a product like
that is far from unique. And far from
revolutionary.
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True, but...
Ben_E 29th Jan 2010
However, the iPad is introduced into a
completely different market than the iPod. We
all own devices with Internet capabilities that
allows us to read the news online. They are
called laptops.

When the iPod was released we all had personal CD players and old Walkmans. Just a thought.
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Point of fact here.....
James Quinn 29th Jan 2010
There were MP3 players before the iPod. There were smartphones
before the iPhone. In each case there still are said devices in
existence and have always been in existence while the iPod and iPhone
has sold very well and continues to do so. The thing to do here i NOT
to compare features or hardware specs but to take the iPad as a
complete whole unit and figure out what it does not what it does not
do which seems to have been the trend about both the iPod and
iPhone and well those arguments have FAILED have they not? So yes
there are laptops, tablets and netbooks and they have various
features, hardware specs and capabilities and prices and if you
"THINK" that is the answer or a factor in this you very well may be
proven wrong I think with Apple the "IT" is much more subtle than
many realize.

Pagan jim
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We all owned devices that could listen to MP3s in 2001.
Bruizer 30th Jan 2010
However, the iPad is introduced into a
completely different market than the iPod. We
all own devices with Internet capabilities that
allows us to read the news online. They are
called laptops.

They were called laptops, desktops and cell phones. Yep, even in
2001-2003 time frame. When I bought my first iPod (the weekend
they came out), I had a friend that said. "What's the big deal? I can
have up to 15 songs on my phone. Gets me through the day at work
and is all I need."

You could of course argue that a device
dedicated to reading newspapers and books will
offer a better user experience than a laptop,

And that is exactly what they argued in 2001-2003 on the iPod. It is
the form factor, the interface and the design that makes a device compelling.

but Apple's position in offering a product like
that is far from unique.

Not really true. The closest device is the Archos 7 with a $300 price
tag (limited to 8GB??), Android (not able to access the Market Place
because it did not "conform" enough to Google's concept on what
Android is. Open yep. Right.) but no software except Archos's custom
app store.

We have Dell's $1100 entry for a 5" device with a camera.

A slew of Win 7 tablets running a desktop OS. There is a strong
support system of a legacy eco-system. 100's of thousands of apps
none of which are designed for finger touch interface. That worked
wonders 7 years ago. Not.

While I question the design and success of the iPad, it really is unique
in its approach.
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RE: Apple iPad: My interview on BBC
vlgo 29th Jan 2010
The iPad brings absolutely nothing new to the market. There are many other much more interesting or innovative devices that deserve publicity. Just because iPad has an apple logo on it does not make it brilliant or even remotely "industry saving" device.
My advice for the author is to spend more time outside of iTunes and Apple stores in the real world.
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Very old and tired arguments that have been proven
James Quinn 29th Jan 2010
wrong time and time again. Not saying that this product will be a
success mind you but your claims/arguments bod well for the iPad if
history has anything to do with it. Ah the old Apple Logo a classic:)

Pagan jim
0 Votes
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In a word, ridiculous!
ShadeTree 29th Jan 2010
What is killing the newspaper is the Internet and 24 hour news channels not the media. There are just too many other more convenient places to get your news. If anthing this just buries them deeper!
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Newspapers one advantage is the depth of coverage
James Quinn 29th Jan 2010
they can and should provide. If they don't continue in that fashion they
will fail however if they do continue to cover stories in depth and provide
such depth in an interesting fashion they may succeed but to do that they
have to enter the modern age and get away for ink and paper so the iPad
could be a vehicle for that.

Pagan jim
0 Votes
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What is killing newspaper is bad design (NT)
CowLauncher 29th Jan 2010
NT
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The newspapers are killing themselves...
i8thecat 29th Jan 2010
The business model has changed and yet they
cling to the old model and are killing
themselves in the process... Browser hits are
the current method of tracking circulation...
The revenue comes entirely from advertisers,
not readers. And on the web they have to
compete with local television as well as
national newspapers... They need to get
innovative and step it up. They need to attract
local readers more than anything else... Trying
to charge a subscription for web content is
incredibly stupid... There are hundreds of news
sites that have all their content for free.
They don't need all the paper, they don't need
all the ink, they don't need as many delivery
trucks, printing presses, etc. etc... So the
cost of business is greatly reduced... What
they need is to let go of the old and get busy
embracing current reality...
0 Votes
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Hmmm...
frogspaw 29th Jan 2010
Well yes, but then the sum total of human endeavour is the
realisation of potential at any point in the timeline of
history. That's a given.
Back to your point - I agree. There is certainly enough
potential in the iPad with it's present early days form to
transform media consumption, particularly newspaper and
magazine publishing. I think Apple made exactly the right
decisions re the os choice and the implementation of
features - the traditional desktop hierarchical mouse and
menu driven metaphor hasn't done it so far and never will.
All you naysayers don't understand that fact so lets pass
on.
Whether the media companies have the balls to do some
hiring and let their teams go do the necessary creation is
another matter. If they just carry on with half hearted
content conversion aka the web as at present, then the
answer is no and slow death.
I see many opportunities for small companies to set up
innovative publishing ventures and rewrite(sorry) the
world. Of course, the existing media giants will hang on to
their content, trying to squeeze every last penny from their
assets, but that's just history now. New content rights will
soon follow since we can all produce our own content now.
My major hope is that Apple somehow enable easy self-
publishing. Not in the way that so many single book apps
are now published in the App store, but in their virtual
book/magazine store.
The NWT demo was interesting, but a bit old-hat don't you
think?
0 Votes
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It's the content, not the delivery mechanism
Vesicant 29th Jan 2010
You'd think that newspaper apologists would understand this by now, but I guess not. What's happening is a return to the days when freedom of the press referred to real live printing presses, not "journalism" special interests.
0 Votes
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The whole publishing world is way behind the times
Laraine Anne Barker 29th Jan 2010
For instance, editors should be accepting digital submissions yet
some of them are still demanding copy in ugly monospace
typefaces (something that should belong strictly to typewriters in
museums) as well as hard copy only. Look how long it took
publishers to bring out their books in digital format as well as
paper. They just about needed a gun pointed at their heads!
0 Votes
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RE: Apple iPad: My interview on BBC
r.sharkey@... 30th Jan 2010
Great precis of the capabilities and potential of iPad
but as an English teacher I must take issue with
"hitching your wagon to the rising star of Apple and
launching into the future" :7)
0 Votes
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Jobs said he didn't know how to make a $500 computer that didn't suck...
Qbt 30th Jan 2010
Guess what? He was right!
0 Votes
+ -
Well, considering that...
zkiwi 31st Jan 2010
Your posts seem to indicate that anything Apple sucks, it's hard to take your current "opinion" on this iPad thingy with much more than a grain of salt. Oh, and I guess you probably have the HR "5 years of experience" on the iPad so you could tell us "the facts" on a product that's out in March/April.

Either that, or you'll be waiting in line outside an Apple store around then.

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