Medium of the year: iPad
Over the next few days, we are publishing highlights from this year’s Mumbrella Annual.
In January 2010, the late Steve Jobs introduced a new word into the English language: iPad.
In May that year, iPad mark one hit Australian stores and the company struggled to keep up with consumer demand and a backlog of pre-orders.
First in line to buy the iPad were the fans of Apple and tech junkies. For most of the general public, the tablet seemed like an unnecessary addition to their existing technology needs. But this would soon change.
With more than 750,000 iPads already in the Australian market, the iPad 2 went on sale in March this year and the device quickly went from being the plaything of early adopters to a must-have entertainment and work device.
More and more people turn to the iPad for tasks previously assigned to traditional computers. In August, PricewaterhouseCoopers analysts speculated that one in four Australian homes will have a tablet device by 2015 and as we move towards this target, it has been reported iPad sales are actually cannibalising PC sales.
Content wise, there are now more than 140,000 dedicated iPad apps available from Apple’s App Store with many more additional iPhone apps that work on the platform. While advertisers and marketers are beginning to dabble in this space, where the device has really come into its own is as an extension for established publishing brands.
This year, News Limited launched a freemium subscription model for The Australian’s online offerings including the dedicated iPad app. Business news website Business Spectator has also entered the arena with an app focusing on video interviews and commentary.
The Nine Network launched Nine Newsbreak for iPad, an app featuring a news bulletin at 8.15pm each night.
The Australian Financial Review has announced it will launch its app in early 2012 while Vogue Australia and Donna Hay magazine have also revealed their offerings this year. Overseas, publications such as Wired and The Guardian are using the technology to deliver quality journalism and a user experience that arguably leaves the print version of their publications for dead.
Advertisers have started to dabble with the iPad this year. But it is publishers that have made best use of Apple’s latest toy.
Commended: Google+
Google seems to have made a better go at social media with Google+, putting bad memories of Google Buzz, its answer to Twitter, and Google Wave, its online collaboration tool, behind it. Google+’s challenge to Facebook – now as mainstream as television – is also proving an uphill task. But its superior segmentation of contacts gave Facebookers worrying about privacy a good reason to defect. And its launch of a platform for brands in June was an interesting move – The Muppets, Save The Children and Toyota were among the Google+ early adopters.
This piece first appeared in the Mumbrella Annual, which is currently on sale priced at $10 for access to the digital edition or $20 for both print and digital access.- Both can be ordered through Realview, via this link
Hi guys,
I just read your article and felt I had to tell you about this amazingly elegant and simple Christmas iPad app launched by Circul8, Sydney Social Media Agency.
The #GiftWrapApp lets you wrap anything for Xmas – last minute gifts here we come!
It’s racing up the charts http://www.gift-wrap-app.com
Enjoy,
Cheers,
Amaury
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I seem to remember one media company CEO (or is it Chairman now?) on video, on this very site, saying the iPad was a crock and had no future. Anyone recall who I’m referring to? Are we the industry of back flips or what?
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No mention of the SMH and Age iPad apps launching? 350,000 downloads at last count.
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