mikehudack: soupsoup: continuum: Steve Jobs...

soupsoup:

continuum:

Steve Jobs said people don’t read any more. But Apple is in talks with several media companies rooted in print, negotiating content for a “new device.” And they’re not just going for e-books and mags. They’re aiming to redefine print.

I’m looking forward to this. I think iTunes LP is the first application of Apple’s new publishing format. They have a history of doing this kind of thing — releasing something small that uses a new technology, then revealing what it was really developed for.

This is one of the real questions of innovation in media - who goes first, the platform or the content?

Media can’t start producing content on a mass scale for a device that doesn’t yet exist, especially when you take into account the state of media finances, and the amount of time it will take for such a platform to become standard.

Tech companies are in better shape, but a platform without content is a hard sell, even for a company like Apple that gets the benefit of the doubt from most of its customers.

The argument I expect is one based on the platform already existing through webmagazines. Which, though technically true, would require a media company to take a look at funding a webmag as something other than an addition to a print version, or a store of old content. Even my favourite web magazines are generally text and images served online, i.e., bastardized print. Something with interactive content, exclusive embedded video, innovative presentation of information? if you know where to look, you can find little hints of magic, but not as a standard element of magazines presented online.

continuum