Today, all hail
Apple's 'Jesus tablet'
The company is finally unveiling its much-hyped new device
By Louisa Ada Seltzer
Jan 27, 2010
Will the so-called "Jesus tablet" resurrect the slumping print media industry?
It sounds like a lot of hype, but then again, Apple revolutionized the music industry with the introduction of the iPod a decade ago.
With today's expected debut of Apple's new computer tablet, essentially a bigger version of the iPod Touch with a 10-inch screen ideal for reading newspapers and magazines, publishers are anticipating new ways to reach readers who have abandoned them for the web, as well as new ways to charge those readers.
Magazine companies including Hearst, Condé Nast and Time already have made mock-ups of how their magazines would look on the tablet, reports the New York Times, which itself is rumored to have reached a tablet deal with Apple.
Some reports have Apple launching an iTunes-like store featuring premium newspaper and magazine content as soon as today.
That would mark a huge change in the way print products have been distributed online. Though a handful of magazines experimented with pay walls in the early days, most newspapers have been giving away their content for years, which has conditioned readers to expect it for free.
Now, with print ad revenue and circulation plummeting, newspapers and magazines are scrambling to find a new digital model that will make up for the money being lost offline.
That's been a difficult transition. Studies show that up to three-quarters of Americans would refuse to pay for online content, and e-readers and smartphones, while gaining popularity, have not given print much of a boost.
The tablet, however, with Apple's influential backing, could usher in an era of newspaper and magazine readers in the same way the iPod sparked MP3 sales.
No wonder it's rather absurdly been dubbed the Jesus tablet or messiah machine (its real name is rumored to be iSlate or iPad). So many people have such outsized hopes for the device.
In addition to newspapers and magazines, the book industry, whose sales have also been falling, is also counting on the tablet to boost the embrace of e-books, which will be readable on the new tablet.
That said, it's absurd to regard the device as an immediate savior. It will take years for the device to be perfected and widely adopted, once its price point comes down significantly.
But it does offer at least a ray of hope to an industry that's been so long without one.
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