The iPad as story boutique plus other New York City musings

Apple iPad analysis from Garcia Media, and how it will effect print and new media:

TAKEAWAY: The iPad is everywhere one turns in New York City, and, although it is likely to become the story boutique of the future, we still do not see that level of storytelling by the newspaper editions that are taking their first baby steps into the new platform PLUS: A surprise in print that was not in the iPad AND: The INMA Congress is on here in New York City, and digital publishing plays a key role in the program. PLUS: A look at the Wall Street Journal’s Greater New York edition
Some early lessons from the iPad

The publishing world has now had some time to examine Apple’s iPad, the tablet that is likely to be the game changer for how we receive information and, hopefully for the newspaper and magazine industry, how we get our credit cards out to pay for subscriptions, or simply to download that favorite column that we just can’t survive without reading.


It is too early to tell if the iPad, or another of the several tablets looming in the horizon, will , in fact, fulfill the expectations. Surely, there is a tablet in your future, whether you are a journalist or a media consumer. So I am fascinated by what we have learned so far, especially as it applies to how a newspaper or magazine tabletizes:

1.Nobody wants the entire page content as it appears in print to land on the screen.

2.A special tablet edition is in order, with a superbly edited version of the editor’s choice of the best content, with special emphasis on multimedia. What are the stories from print that have received tablet enhancements?

3. The iPad is like a pop up book, it must surprise, and there is nothing linear or flat about it.

4. This is why the role of storytelling is key to a successful tablet edition, especially photography, which will become ever more important, each photo a huge canvas full of ministories.

Hollywood has often been described as a dream factory. The iPad can be the ultimate story boutique, as long as the creative people recognize its potential as a unique medium and not a mere dumping ground for the printed edition.

But the story boutique is not open yet. Newspapers and magazines are going into iPad territory cautiously one step at a time (as it should be), and not even crawling yet, allowing us who tinker with our iPads to dream of all the possibilities. The demos we saw in anticipation of the iPad’s arrivals have not quite materialized fully yet. Print still casts a large shadow. But we know that good things come with time for those who wait.

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