iBooks feature on iPad - Creative Commons Flickr: curiouslee

Let’s face it, it is hard to ignore the Apple iPad! The iPhone undoubtedly changed the media industry, but has the iPad made such a major impact?  To me it seems to simply be an evolution of Apple technology.  My point being that the device has no real strength apart from the iBooks feature, especially if you compare it to existing Apple technology such as the iPhone, iPod Touch or MacBook.

However, the iBooks application, Apple’s brand new native application that enables users to discover, browse and download ebooks right from the iPad, could be lifeline to the “analysis and comment” press such as the Time Magazine and the Economist. This may well be a saviour for trade press too, with niche market readers prepared to download (and pay for) quality analysis or technical data, very much in the same way as we pay for iTunes downloads.

We know that there is a strong demand for publication downloads – Amazon predict to sell 3.5 million Kindles this year and 100 million eBooks, perhaps we can see a bounce in Paywalled content or premium multimedia publication downloads? Also we must remember that Kindle has 90% of the e-book market too!

iBooks has the potential for newspapers to change in real time, whilst providing video of sporting events, press conferences or product launches. But, I fear for daily newspapers (particularly regional press) who simple do not have the resource to feed the ever increasing demand of 24/7 real time news. The iPad and similar devices that will follow, means there is an opportunity for news gathering organisations who invest in multimedia rich and quality content – especially if a version of iBooks becomes available on my Macbook!