TAKEAWAY: They are new, different and offer visual treats with content that is easy to access: from airlines to newspapers and magazines, these are good examples. PLUS: The iPad comes to China this Friday.
Take a look
Book a flight, check schedule, review the cabin ambience, manage your booking or visit The Marco Polo Club with Cathay Pacific iPad app
Take the iPad to the kitchen and prepare yourself a Mango and Passion Fruit Smoothie for breakfast: this great app has it all, including school lunch ideas. And, don’t miss the American Express sponsorship and its subtle entrance onto the screen
ABC News: the logo’s circular motion serves as the navigator motif; attractive, easy to follow, distinctive look; clean inside screens (practical is the word), and, best of show——the related story navigator
This Tuesday, a I prepare my keynote presentation for WoodWing’s World Tour in London Friday, I turn my attention to interesting iPad apps that perhaps some of you may have already experienced, but that I am now discovering.
Everyone wants to know “what’s new with the iPad?”
First, it will premiere in that land of many, China, on Friday. Important day for Apple, since the Chinese market, if it takes to the iPad the way the rest of the world has, will be a tremendous opportunity.
Second, we still do not have a body of research to quote from in terms of how people use their iPad, especially as it relates to reading newspapers and magazines. This much we know, and we are happy to say that it is September, and the iPad has been out for about four months, and many of the things we figured would happen are taking place:
-the iPad is monumentally popular with people of all ages——those 60+ contemporaries of mine are among the top tier of iPad buyers and users.
-the iPad is seen as a relaxing experience, used primarily in the evenings and weekends
-the iPad does not require constant news updates, simply give users the option to go to the online edition, or insert a top of the news pop up window that gives them the latest
-the iPad allows for medium to loinger reading pieces, and it is not necessarily the terrain for never ending column of briefs——don’t create nervousness in the user
-the iPad was born to be the perfect photo frame: emphasize photo galleries, hire your best photo editor to make photo selections for the daily iPad edition. We see that, indeed, editors and art directors are well aware of the fantastic opportunities for photos and are exploring them to the fullest.
-the iPad is the platform to use in almost any room of the house, unlike a PC which is usually stationed on a desk in a given space. The iPad has “wheels”—-cook with it in the kitchen (see Epicurious), book a flight (at the breakfast table—Cathay Pacific, among others, already offers iPad app), or read a book while stretched out on that living room sofa, or in bed.
iPad and China
Get ready to see those now familiar lines of iPad buyers waiting with anticipation outside the two existing Chinese Apple stores as the first Wi-Fi models of the iPadappear beginning Friday at 10 a.m. Until now, users in China have bought iPads brought into the country by traders on the country’s gray market. But the Chinese will have to pay more for their new gadget: Apple said it will charge from 3,988 yuan ($590), for the 16-gigabyte iPad, to 5,588 yuan ($826), for the 64-gigabyte model. That’s about 18% over the U.S. price of between $499 and $699. But less than the close to $1000 the Chinese have been paying to buy their iPads in the black market.
Look forward to seeing Chinese apps, especially for newspapers and magazines in this country with a voracious appetite for news and new technology.
CNN and repetition
I have been a CNN fan for as long as it has been on the air. It is a constant companion for me as I stay in hotel rooms worldwide. So much so, that I find myself coming home and turning my family room TV to watch Larry King, or follow Guillermo Arduino’s weather reports, or Richard Quest’s Business Traveller.
However, lately I am getting tired of the extreme repetition of programs. Indeed, these are hard times, and every media platform is going through a tough patch. But we in print media could never get away with repeating the same features for months at a time, the way CNN does. Are other networks doing the same?
Example: Quest’s Business Traveller has been showing two features since June, or maybe earlier——United Airlines proposed change of uniforms for its crews, and an interesting (when I first saw it) take on Richard Quest’s turn as a flight attendant for Gulf Air. I do not wish to see these shows anymore. Enough is Enough. Basta!
I have not yet switched to another network, but I find myself pushing the MUTE button on the remote more often than I would like, while turning my Internet radio to a favorite station from New York City (www.thepenthouse.fm) where the old jazz standards vary. In addition, i turn to the iPad for apps that inform me and entertain me while Bobby Caldwell sings Indian Summer, or Ella does It Had to be You.
If someone from CNN is reading this: time for less repetition. We know you can do it, so get with (changes in) the program.