I’m not sure the free content genie can ever be completely put back in the bottle but the iPad is certainly providing newspaper and magazine publishers with a lot of encouragement that consumers could start coughing up for some content again.
Engadget has a story suggesting that the Wall St. Journal is going to charge $17.99/month for a subscription on the iPad. If WSJ owner Rupert Murdoch can pull it off, more power to him – and more revenue, in theory, to many content players looking for salvation.
The big question is whether form will change consumer behaviour. Will the user-friendly size of the iPad and the fact it can be a quasi-mobile device be a compelling enough proposition that content becomes “valuable” again? If consumers can enjoy a good experience in reading content whenever they want, is that enough to convince some of them to pay?
The answer is no one really knows until the iPad makes its way into the market, and publishers attempt to set up newsstands on it. My sense is some – but not a lot – content players will make revenue but the iPad will not be economic nirvana for the content world.
True, “no one really knows” but ultimately whats more exciting then the ipad itself is renewed excitement for tablet devices and a focus on fixing the problems that ailed them in the past and hampered adoption. With the ipad leading, android tablet not far behind the market is ripe with competition on the platform which is hopefully only going to mean a whack load of new ideas an innovation for content delivery and consumption.
I’ve been hearing a lot of chatter about if the iPad can give new life to paid content and in my opinion I think that it can for awhile initially because of the early adopter crowd (who likes to spend money) that will have the device, and the novelty of the touch media. Long term I guess it can as well but there may need to be additional value added features or benefits layered on top to keep buyers coming back.