The Apple iPad
Welcome to the wonderful world of publishing by app.
Originally published in the Summer 2010 edition of the Dow Jones Newsfund's Adviser Update
As Apple rapidly approaches three million in sales of the new iPad, media educators are left with a number of questions. What is the thing? What’s it for? What affect might it have on scholastic journalism?
To understand the purpose and point of the iPad it is best first to understand what it is not. The iPad is not a flatter replacement for your laptop. You and your students will not use the device to write and edit copy, layout pages or edit video. While the device does have a virtual keyboard, it is unwieldy for any use larger than typing a search term into Google. Beyond that, the device doesn’t include enough memory to store the large loads of data journalists create (at 16 gigabytes, the base model can store no more than a medium-sized flash drive).
The iPad is clearly designed to consume media, not to create it. Only one application (an app in Apple speak) can be open at a time, and that keyboard ... suffice it to say that I’ve been typing since the seventies, and using it I suddenly developed about a 25 percent error rate. Some have put the device down as being nothing more than a giant iPhone (without, ironically, the ability to make a call). That is exactly what the iPad is, but that’s not an insult.
What the iPad is is an almost perfect device for consuming media. Techies have been predicting for a long time the development of devices people will use in the future to access the media they own in the ether of the Internet. In a world in which virtually everything we do involves in one way or another logging onto the ‘net, developing a device dedicated to that purpose was inevitable.
As a first step into the future of the media, the iPad is also just downright cool. At roughly 9.5 X 7.5 inches, the high resolution screen is amazingly sharp and crisp. Onboard video runs spectacularly smoothly (and starts just about instantly) and streaming media within apps are sharper and quicker than I’ve ever seen. The package includes basic elements like a web browser, e-mail, a video player, and a remarkably user friendly iBook reader and store. I’ve never seen the appeal of e-readers, and their often intentionally dull screens, intended to mimic paper and avoid eye strain, have actually tended to bother my eyes. I made a point of reading for a prolonged period on the iPad and found the bright screen very pleasant.
There are technically six models of the iPad. It comes with either 16 gigs, 32 gigs, or 64 gigs of memory, and each of those models comes with either just Wi-Fi access or with the ability to access the ‘net using 3G as well. They are priced from $499 to $829, and so far there is no discount for teachers in the Apple Education Store. Since the device’s memory cannot be upgraded, you’ll want to pay for an upper level model . Three G access requires a monthly service plan through AT&T costing between $15 and $30.
The Apple App Store, which currently boasts over 200,000 available apps, many free or available for very low cost, will be a compromise for iPad users. To make as many apps as possible available, they’ve arranged for the device to run every one previously released for the iPhone and the iPod Touch. That means that the vast majority of them were designed to run optimally on the much smaller screens of those devices. Many will lose something running on the iPad. And, faced with the choice of developing new apps just for the few million iPads versus for the approximately 62 million iPhones and iPods, many software developers may continue to build packages designed mainly for the smaller devices.
Still, those apps will be a boon to anyone who loves news. Yes, you can still consume media using a standard web browser. The iPad, however, gives you the option of downloading individual apps specifically designed to deliver the content of a particular news entity. You can download apps from The New York Times, CNN, Reuters, USA Today, pretty much any media outlet you choose. And these packages deliver more than just the standard web experience. The USA Today app, for example, opens to a virtual front page with a USA Today header and sidebar that remain somewhat static wrapped around a large content window. Using the touch screen, you can flow through the available newspaper sections and stories, opening content with a touch of your index finger. The total effect is an oddly realistic newspaper reading experience that is, at the same time, modern and exciting.
Better, many see the introduction of such outlet specific apps as a way for media entities to begin making money again for their content. A city newspaper, for example, might charge a low subscription fee of a few dollars for its app, but since the potential market is now the whole world, they might make a profit based on volume.
That’s one of the best things about the iPad. So much of its purpose is all about print delivered electronically. Yes, it’s the perfect device for watching YouTube clips (on the YouTube app), but imagine a world in which every student in your school has an iPad like device (and, yes, there will be the inevitable knockoffs) with an onboard app linking them dynamically to your school newspaper, yearbook or broadcast. Just as websites and podcasts have opened our students’ content to the world, iPad apps offer student media a content delivery device that will make everything we create that much cooler.
Which leads to a call to action. Apple makes their software development tools available free to developers (you can find them at http://developer.apple.com/ipad/sdk/). Someone in the non-profit scholastic press world needs to get started right away developing apps that can be easily customized to allow our student print and broadcast journalists to easily publish directly to the iPad. Just as HighSchoolJournalism.org has helped thousands of schools to get onto the web, this project can help them feed this newest medium. Soon, our students may be vying for the first Pacemaker for best iPad app.
Approximately 1,050 words
© Gary Clites 2010