The Homa Files

Key Takeaway: Apple is back to its incredibly innovative ways as it prepares for the launch of the iPad in 2010.

This device will allow consumers to have a more interactive experience with print media, give people the ability to host two-way video discussions anywhere and anytime, and may finally jumpstart telecommuting.

Talk about benefit-overload; this product’s unique attributes show that there are ways to revive and improve stagnant, or even declining, categories.

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Excerpted from BusinessWeek, “Five Ways Apple’s Tablet May Change the World” by Ben Kunz, December 30, 2009

Speculation about Apple’s one-device-to-rule-them-all iPad reached fever pitch this month when Yair Reiner, an analyst at Oppenheimer (OPY), dug through Steve Jobs’ production pipeline and found evidence that the tablet was being readied for an April 2010 launch.

…the iPad will change the world in at least five ways.

• Magazine and newspaper publishing will bounce back as consumers rediscover paid subscriptions…Expect to see publishers launch visually stunning versions of their magazines with swooping typography, video insets, CNN iReporter-style news uploads, social media overlays—whatever it takes to make you think you’re seeing a magazine or newspaper like never before, so much so you’ll even want to pay for it.

• Television and radio ratings will continue to fall. Unlike print, TV and radio won’t fit easily into the Apple tablet’s format. Sure, U.S. consumers still watch 5 hours and 9 minutes of live television a day, but the problem is ratings don’t hold when commercials actually air…Rather than being a device to watch television, the Apple tablet is more likely to be an interactive distraction when real TV ads come on your basement set.

• Augmented-reality views of the world will increase. If you missed this trend, it’s simple: Augmented reality puts computer graphics on top of live video feeds, similar to the yellow line you see on the field in NFL games.

• Two-way video on tablets will push communication costs even lower…Add a tablet with built-in Webcam, and suddenly video calls are as easy as holding up a mirror.

• Telecommuting may finally take off…when Apple tablets make portable video truly accessible, plane ticets and poor coffee in cars may become things of the past.

Edit by JMZ

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Full Article:
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/dec2009/tc20091229_795528.htm

This entry was posted on January 28, 2010 at 7:19 am and is filed under Mktg - Product & Innovation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.