The Future Of Publishing (2): One iPad to rule them all?

: Image by cattias.photos via Flickr

As magazine publishers are looking for ways to survive the digital revolution, there is one knight in shining armor – the iPad. At VDZ’s Digital innovator summit, the “magical” device was mentioned every second panel. Booths at the exhibition area showed prototypes of iPad applications, and CMS vendors stated that they are planning iPad support sooner rather than later.

However, amazingly enough, most of the people I’ve talked with never saw the iPad or held it in their own hands. Most of their knowledge about the device derived from Apple’s announcement and blogs – not first-hand impression.

Though it seems strange at first that a whole industry would be betting its future on a device that almost no one used or saw, when looking at the details, the iPad is a publisher’s wet dream:

1. A sexy device
2. That provides a rich media experience, way better than the black and white Kindle
3. With embedded DRM, billing, and distribution mechanism

Based on iPhone and iPod success, iPad has the potential to become the magazine industry’s savior. However, magazines could not rely on a single device or concept to be the answer to all their woes.

Want to know what P&G told publishers about their future? Check out this post.