Martin Langeveld writing at the Nieman Journalism Lab has written an excellent piece on business models for the iPad. He works through challenges within publishing businesses on how to leverage the iPad.
I like the assumptions on which based his suggested strategies:
- The mobile web will be ubiquitous — upward of 70 percent of adults will be connected to the web on mobile platforms virtually all of their waking hours.
- All forms of media consumption will move to mobile platforms, especially the iPad and its competitors and successors, at an increasing rate.
- Marketers will shift their budgets to mobile platforms (and out of both newspapers and direct mail) at an increasing rate.
- Consumers will respond strongly to mobile pitches in the form of ads, video, social recommendations, online catalogues, deals-of-the day (like the explosively growing Groupon — an operation newspapers should be partnering with), and other channels yet to be invented.
Go to the article to read the strategies which flow from these assumptions. They come down to a call to action to publishers to embrace devices like the iPad. It or something like it is the next generation distribution channel.