L’Ipad, il CD-ROM e il mercato dei media ieri e oggi

Via Techdirt

The media has been making a huge deal about how the iPad is supposed to “save the business,” because suddenly everything will return to apps, and people pay for apps, and toss in a big dose of “Steve Jobs!” and there’s some sort of magic formula which includes some question marks and inevitably ends in profit! Now, the iPad does look like a nice device, and I have no doubt that it will do quite well for Apple, and many buyers will be quite happy with it. But it’s not going to save the media business in any way, shape or form. It’s just the media chasing a rainbow in search of gold that doesn’t exist.

A few months back, I tried to ask a simple question that we still haven’t received a good answer to: all of these media companies, thinking that iPad apps are somehow revolutionary, don’t explain why they never put that same functionality online. They could. But didn’t. There’s nothing special about the iPad that enables functionality you couldn’t do elsewhere. But, it goes deeper than that. People are being taken down by app madness. Because the iPhone has sold a bunch of apps, suddenly old school media players are suddenly dreaming of the sorts of control they used to have, and pretending it can be replicated on the iPad. But that’s a big myth.

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Le applicazioni più scaricate per Ipad sono quelle dei media, ma quelle gratuite

Via Poynter Interest in content-related apps for the tablet device. Among the top 10 free downloads were apps for iBooks, Netflix, ABC Player, Weatherbug, Weather Channel, The Wall Street Journal, NYT Editors’ Choice and NPR. In contrast, among the current top 10 apps for the iPhone, eight were game or entertainment related. Among paid iPad … Leggi tutto

Su Ipad Engadget la vede così

Oltre alla recensione anche il video

The Apple iPad. The name is a killing word — more than a product — it’s a statement, an idea, and potentially a prime mover in the world of consumer electronics. Before iPad it was called the Apple Tablet, the Slate, Canvas, and a handful of other guesses

We know there’s a lot of talk about reading with this type of display versus a Kindle or other E-Ink device, but we’ll just be straight with you — it didn’t hurt our eyes to use this as a reading device. You’re able to crank the brightness down a significant amount, but it’s also just a matter of adjustment. After a few minutes we didn’t see the device or the screen tech anymore — we saw a book. We won’t speculate on what prolonged use will feel like, but there is data out there that suggests the technology might not be as important as some people think it is when it comes to e-reader displays.

The finger-based navigation really is kind of spectacular, and it makes browsing weirdly like rediscovering an old friend. Other additions to the app like a proper bookmarks bar, use of toolbar drop downs, and an improved tab grid make it a pleasure to use. It is without question one of the best browsing experiences we’ve encountered. But is it the best? Well, not really.

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Qualche pensiero sull’Ipad

Mentre in Italia si svolge l’esodo pasquale, oggi è il giorno attesissimo dell’uscita fisica, nei negozi americani, dell’IPad. Noi Europa siamo una colonia di seconda colonizzazione per cui dovremo aspettare di più per toccare il magico “coso” di Apple. Questo se può essere un limite per i geek incalliti che oramai hanno lingua penzoloni per testare il nuovo giocattolone, è un’utile occasione per delle valutazioni più ponderate.

Il mondo dei media si è lanciato tribalmente in recensioni molto positive sottolineando anche che l’Ipad è una sfida, un nuovo prodotto che vuole imporre un nuovo standard di device. Sicuramente i media tradizionali patiscono un grave problema di conflitto di interessi. E’ come se fino a ieri strade ed autostrade fossero ugualmente gratuite e se da oggi venissero messi i caselli sulle autostrade per poter effettuare i pagamenti. A questo punto i gestori delle autostrade si troverebbero a spiegarci che i caselli sono belli e utili e che dobbiamo tutti utilizzarli .

Siamo in attesa che Apple inizi a fare girare per l’Europa degli Ipad per test o che, più facile, ci si introduca con fare sornione in un Mediaworld del caso chiedendo distratti a un commesso di giocare un po’ con “sa quella novità di Apple di cui parlano tutti i media”. A quel punto potremp piano piano capire davvero se l’Ipad è un oggetto che cambierà la fruizione dei media.
Mettiamo insieme quattro pensieri sul tema.

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Ipad: l’ultima speranza per gli old media

John Dvorak via Marketwatch

In addition to creating a fantastic media promotional blitz to jack up the public for the iPad, Apple Inc. Chief Executive Steve Jobs cajoled many of the big name newspapers and magazines to create a special edition of their publications for the device. The not-so-subtle message is that you are all toast. Your future is the iPad.

And while this may or may not be true, it added a new dimension to the promotion machine: conflict of interest.

What kind of reviews can we expect to find in those same grandiose publications? Well you can be sure that they are not going to slam their future distribution medium.

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Google e Ipad

Via Google mobile blog

Here at Google we’re really excited about the promise of tablet computers, which will be great for browsing the web and using apps. We’ve been working hard to optimize our services for the new format – larger touchscreens, increased portability, rich sensors – and we’d like to share some information about our progress so far.

While surfing the web on your iPad, we expect many of you will want to check your Gmail. If you go to gmail.com in your browser, you’ll see something different than what you’re used to on the desktop. We’re releasing an experimental user interface for the iPad built on the Gmail for mobile HTML5 web app that we launched last year for the iPhone and Android devices. Those devices have large screens compared to other phones, and tablets like the iPad give us even more room to innovate. To take advantage of the iPad’s large display, we’ve created a two-pane view with your list of conversations on the left and messages to the right.

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