PHD Perspectives: The iPad isn't About Apps: It's About the Future of Media and Content - Drew Breunig - MediaBizBloggers

With the introduction of Apple's iPad last week, a good chunk of the Internet weighed in with opinions, verdicts, and jokes. In doing so they fell into predictable biases, which obscured an important takeaway: Apple's iPad will be vastly different from the iPhone in that it will be about media and content, not about applications. By understanding the media formats the iPad inspires we can better understand the future of content, as it might exist across the entire digital spectrum, from mobile phones to PCs.

The Sigh of the Thought-Leader: "The iPad is just a big iPod Touch."

But let's back up. Last week Apple announced the iPad, their take on a tablet computer. According to Apple PR, the iPad is,

"...A revolutionary device for browsing the web, reading and sending email, enjoying photos, watching videos, listening to music, playing games, reading e-books and much more."

With their announcement, Apple ended years of rabid speculation and rumors concerning its fabled tablet.

But as the initial rush of the reveal faded, technology tastemakers sighed with disappointment. "The iPad is a big iPhone - and that's it," wrote one commenter on The Guardian's tech blog. The "big iPhone/iPod Touch" critique was iterated by gadget blogs across the Internet. The mood was similarly tepid at a developer meet-up in Silicon Valley's Mountain View. Most programmers were disappointed: the iPad doesn't offer them anything new. "The iPad doesn't have any new functions that weren't already on the iPhone. It has lessfeatures than my current netbook. I don't understand the excitement," one developer commented.

Developers Want Function, Not Form: Content Partners will Drive this Device

The critique that the "iPad is just a big iPhone" isn't wrong, per se. But it's like saying, "a magazine is basically a big business card." You're ignoring the interactions users have with products.

Unfortunately, this context-devoid argument is a popular response among the tech elite. It tends to arise anytime a company makes a gadget for an audience other than the tech-obsessed. In fact, the tech community issued the same"nothing new" response when Apple unveiled the iPod, in 2001. In a MacRumors forum discussing the then-unveiled iPod, one member wrote:

"I still can't believe this! All this hype for something so ridiculous! Who cares about an MP3 player? I want something new! I want them to think differently! Why oh why would they do this?! It's so wrong! It's so stupid!"

The thread is littered with similar replies.

The "nothing new" response illustrates the core desire of technologists: bleeding-edge function. To them, form is merely window dressing. Time and time again, products that package existing technology for mainstream audiences are ridiculed for not pushing boundaries. Yet, time and time again these products succeed, because they understand that most people want to simplyusetechnology, not bask in its potential.

3rd party support for the iPad will not come from unenthusiastic developers. Rather, it will come from content publishers. Context experiences from media companies like newspaper and magazine publishers, blogs, book publishers, TV studios, and sports leagues will make the iPad valuable. Without this outside support, the iPad will fester as an expensive way to browse the Web, something competitors will quickly match at lower price-points.

The Universal Format: The Future of Content

Right now, the iPad is still an early adopter device: many people want it, but no one needs it. However, there is no denying that the new form of content born today is a potential solution to many of the problems plaguing media companies. Dated companies like Harper Collins, Penguin, and The New York Times look fighting fit on the iPad. Many laughed a few weeks ago at the concept of a New York Timespay wall. But on stage last Wednesday, The Timesshowed off an experience worth paying for.

And while I don't think there's a current need (yet) for a device that sits between the mobile phone and the PC, I do think that the space between mobile and PC is a proving ground for future content. The most valuable result of developing content for the space between mobile and PCs is the creation of a universal format that works across the entire digital device spectrum. And there is a strong need for a universal format.

As media professionals we've been given a gift. Apple has thoroughly explored the future of content and returned with the iPad. So rather than spend money on trend reports and futurists, we should become familiar with the iPad and the media formats that it inspires. Because it doesn't matter whether or not the iPad is a hit. What matters is that newspapers, booksellers, magazine publishers, advertisers and all others media companies have been handed a blueprint for contextualizing and selling their content in a fully digital future.

Drew Breunig, Senior Account Planner, PHD Media, an Omnicom Company. You can follow Drew @http://twitter.com/dbreunig

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