Apple’s iPad Media Takeover Strategy

Folks at Apple are not silly, even though the name of the latest product might strike as so. They have a definite plan and they are willing to put their $50 billion yearly revenue behind it to get it done. As for the name, was the iPod any better? But it is iconic now. So in a few months after the first iPads start shipping, people are going to forget all about the jokes that they cracked and concentrate on the device that is meant to become the device for content consumption of all kinds.

There have been talks of how the iPad is just a larger iPhone device but that is just because other than just a handful of people, those who are talking about it haven’t even touch one yet. And since this a product that is meant to be an extremely personal device, there is need for it to be touched and held.

The iPhone UI was already great for content consumption and other utilities. It is clutter free, clean and intuitive to a point. It has no excesses and is extremely well-designed. And the 140,000+ apps have proved that there is money and fame in the iPhone. So using this great a touch-based UI makes absolute sense in a tablet device. what people don’t get yet is how putting it on a larger surface with a faster processor and better graphics can change everything.

The clean UI looks cleaner on a larger area and it completely gets out of your way when you want to enjoy your content. And whilst you had to squint on your iPhone to read something, here you are holding something like a slim paperback and interacting almost directly with your content. You want something, you touch it and manipulate it. Imagine any kind of UI on something this large and rest assured that something like that is either there or in the making because this a blank canvas for iPhone OS devs to go crazy over. 9.7″ diagonal is a lot of space to be working with. And all the existing iPhone Apps are supported out of the box.

And the pricing ensures that competitors are left far behind terms of user experience. It is impossible to deliver this great an experience at this price point. Mainly because you need Apple’s system, size and clout in order to strike the many content deals that Apple is no doubt in the process of making.

This device has the capability of taking you up close to your media and making you forget that you are using it. Apple is also betting on the iBooks app and the iBooks Store to help sell the device. It is a well known fact that Apple barely breaks even on the iTunes store. They use it to sell their hardware and they do it very well.

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