Dear Print Media : The 5 reasons the Apple iPad will not save you
April 5, 2010
I hate to be the first to break it to you, but the iPad will not save print media. No chance, no how, no way. Many in the industry are speculating that the iPad will save print media. They claim it will get people “reading news again” with the traffic of course all hoping to go to pay wall media outlets.
Here’s the shocker people. It’s not going to happen.
Reason 1 - A tablet computer is … well… it’s a computer. You know the same one that runs on your desk for 8 hours a day at work, and the other hours at home. It does the same thing that your laptop, desktop or phone does. It visits websites which at that point people choose to pay or not… read for free or not… and surf as they do .. or not. There is no huge technical innovation going on here. It’s a notebook with a touch screen. Why the print media industry is applauding this “innovation” is beyond most of us. There is no real reason for consumers to pay for an online print media edition just because it’s being displayed on an iPad rather than their phone, notebook or desktop.
Reason 2 - The industry has, well lets face it, been overtook by millions of bloggers that generally have a more up to date news story, more niche and more specific to what someone is looking into regarding a developing story. It’s the evolution of the internet. Many of these blogs offer the more robust story after the event. Google the recent health care bill and you’ll see tens of thousands of article pro and con regarding both the merits and the waste associated with it.
Reason 3 - Google , Twitter and Facebook : how do you think most people are finding the news stories or the blogs? When the earthquake hit last night in Mexico, it took about 10 minutes when friends of mine in the area were giving minute by minute updates on events unfolding via twitter and facebook, Google had a running tally of live tweets going out.
Reason 4 - It’s that pay wall you print media types are dreaming about. It’s never going to work. Please get that though your skulls… the content behind that pay wall is just not that good. People don’t pay for what’s free, and free is sitting at reasons 1, 2, and 3.
Reason 5 - When you print media CEO’s have a chance and leave your ivy tower offices to see your greatly reduced workforce due to mass layoffs over the past 15 years, don’t you see a trend? You missed every single opportunity to take advantage of rapidly changing reality on the ground. It’s reached the point where you are now hoping a hardware company will save your print media company. You have a difficult time understanding why the people on the internet do what they do. You don’t understand how to take advantage of Twitter, Google or Facebook and judging by the lawsuits filed against Google News, you don’t want to know how to obtain traffic from the search engines. You’re career path is outdated.
The reason the car overtook the horse and buggy is because it’s faster…. the same reason why Twitter, Bloggers, Facebook and Google overall took over print media.. but the history lesson from a 100 years ago appears to be forgotten.
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