One of the big disappointments for me in during the iPad announcement was iBooks. I love reading, so having an online bookstore that was more accessible than the Kindle made sense to me, plus it’s an Apple product, so I knew it would work. But I kept waiting for the magazine section to show up, and it never did. No Conde Nast announcement, no big word from the people at Source Interlink – just silence. Turns out, I’m not the only person who noticed. From BNet:
Predicting how iPad will affect future of the industry itself is a little murkier. Pundits can throw around a lot of predictions about the rise or fall of this house or that magazine based on the presence, or absence, of key players to the negotiations table, but the proof is in the planning.
From this point forward, publishers need to realize that they need a programming department to get their content online. Be it the iPad, Kindle or Nook, people are gravitating towards using devices instead of paper copies for their media intake. If the magazine world doesn’t step up quick, they’re going to get left behind.
I, too, was hoping that the iPad would be positioned to help save trees. I would love to see my magazines and journals transformed into electronic media. Medical journals, for example, could then be easily searchable. I wouldn’t have to force myself to send my last year’s copies of Mac|Life to the recycling bin. The world would be a much better place. My belief is that they will do this eventually. The sooner, the better.