Updated Wed., 27/1 at 08:37EST
TAKEAWAY: Mark today in your calendars. When Apple introduces its tablet to the world later today, our industry may be ushering a new era, and the way we receive news and information may be forever altered. The expectations are high, but in its usual Apple style, the tablet is likely to deliver.
The day the tablet said hello
I remember when the iPhone was first introduced and I, like millions of others, admired how slick and beautiful that piece was. I could not wait to have one, and, of course, I lined up for over two hours outside in the June heat at the Tampa (Florida) Apple store to get mine. No regrets. I would do it again.
And, indeed, I may probably line up as part of an even longer line when the Apple tablet is ready for sale.
No, like you, I have not seen what the Apple tablet will look like, but I think it will probably be slick and easy to use, one of those technological marvels that make us want to be 30 instead of 62, so that we stick around to see it develop and evolve.
Because develop and evolve this Apple tablet is likely to do in a monumental way.
News, books and more
My own fascination—-and professional interest—-with the Apple tablet is how convinced I am that it will be what my friend Andrew DeVigal, of The New York Times calls “the game changer”.
Andrew, exchanging e mails with me at a personal level, and not as official spokesman for his employer The Times, wrote:
“I am excited about it. If it’s not the tablet, I’m sure a competitor, will be the game changer. I do think that a device like a tablet can change my habit of consuming media. I mean, the iPhone already does. I can only imagine what a bigger screen and improved interface can do. And if any of the prototypes that you see online (Sports Illustrated being one of them) is any indication, visual communicators will be an important segment of getting that message on this new device.
By the way, Andrew has suggested these interesting links, which I pass on to you:
Steve Jobs is not the savior of old media and the free press
Go here for an interesting interpretation
Jason Calacanis (http://twitter.com/@jason) : Some interesting Tweets.
Could this be a photo of the Apple tablet?
http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/27/is-this-the-apple-tablet/
Joe Zeff,, the illustrator, in his Joe Zeff Design Blog,, writes:
As we approach Wednesday’s unveiling of the most anticipated tablet since the pair that Moses brought down from Mount Sinai, carefully read and dutifully heed: Thou shalt not underestimate its ability to transform our world.
Joe reminds us that the tablet is not just an oversized iPhone or undersized laptop. “It is something entirely new, fusing communication and content in a user-friendly portable device like never before. For the first time, consumers will experience the portability of a mobile phone combined with the ease of use of a personal computer. Whether this is the product that Apple introduces Wednesday or someone else rolls out five years from now, hold on tight because things are about to change. “
Steve Jobs: the man behind the tablet
Page of today’s Wirtschafts Blatt, the Austrian financial daily with the headline: The Apple-approach is a recipe against the crises
The Austrian financial daily, Wirtschafts Blatt profiles Jobs in his edition today, tracking the progress of the Apple stock, and heralding the Apple tablet with a headline that reads: The Apple-approach is a recipe against the crises.
Here is a paragraph from the story, translated from the German:
Nine years after the introduction of the iPod these small little things remain bestsellers, and they are able to create an Apple-Mania, lifting sales of Macs, iPhones – its The Halo-Effect. This hurts Google, this hurts Nokia very much. And look at that chart, Apple really took off with the iPhone.
Today and expectations
It is early in Europe when I post this blog entry. I will update as the day advances, and will try to provide you with commentary and reactions to the introduction to this new Apple product.
We are watching with great expectations. We should be.
Everyone in the industry should be prepared to learn more about it, and regardless of what part of the industry your job covers, when it comes to the Apple tablet, I think we all need to look at it in terms of its three-tier possibilities: the way it will change how we process and design news presentation, the technological changes it implies for how we do things, and, most importantly, the financial aspects of it and its possibilities to take the journalistic profession, and the media, into profitable margins again.
Of related interest:
– Three Things Apple Needs To Do To Make Its Tablet A Breakthrough Device
http://paidcontent.org/article/419-three-things-apple-needs-to-do-to-make-its-tablet-a-breakthrough-device/
>Apple Event to Focus on Reinventing Content, Not Tablets (Wired)
>What an Apple tablet would mean for publishing (Mac World)
>Apple Tablet Portends Rewrite for Publishers (Wall Street Journal)
>The Tablet Could Spur A Media Revolution, But It Will Be Out Of Apple’s Hands (TechCrunch)
>Apple tablet can’t save print on its own: analysts (Reuters)
>A visual guide to the Apple rumors (The Green Room Blog)
>The inside track on Apple’s tablet: a history of tablet computing (Apple Insider)
TheMarioBlog post #467