Comcast's Breakthrough iPad App

By Jerry Del Colliano

If you need evidence as to why Apple’s iPad is going to change the media world, look at what Comcast just announced.

An app.

A very special app that turns your iPad into more than just a television remote.

Take a moment to see Comcast CEO Brian Roberts explain why a TV/cable remote is a thing of the past. Watch here.

So there it is – pairing the iPad to the Comcast cable box. Easy for them to do and much less expensive than being in the hardware business.

The iPad keyboard is the killer app because Comcast customers will soon be able to search 70,000 on demand shows just by typing a few letters onto their iPads.

The iPad then controls the TV, changes channels, adjusts volume and has a social networking aspect – one user can invite another Comcast subscriber via iPad to watch the same TV show.

Roberts says the iPad “liberates us from the cable box and puts it in the power of the consumer”.

A long way from the days when Milton Shapp and his electronics company developed the Jerrold cable box – one of the first devices in the early days of cable (Jerrold was Shapp’s middle name and Shapp eventually became governor of Pennsylvania).

It doesn’t stop there.

Apple, as I have warned (and I am a shareholder) stands to become a dominant power not only in electronics, which it arguably is already, but in content which it is fast becoming. And unlike what we do, Apple doesn’t have to spend any money on content development.

They act as a gatekeeper to allow third party content providers access to their cool and intuitive devices.

They get to charge "tolls" to content providers for using their "turnpike".

And other companies are embracing the iPad.

Take Livio’s new iPhone/iPod Touch radio app made especially for listening in cars.

Large button pre-sets for ease of use while driving. The app suggests listening options (a modern day “scan”). It zeros in on similar stations, if that’s what the driver wants. GPS can be used to find links to local stations while driving.

In the early days of broadcasting, companies like RCA may have manufactured radios and televisions as well as owned interest in broadcast stations but it was nothing compared to what Apple is pulling off today.

Apple owns access.

RCA had to give access to competing stations for free.

Therefore, unless and until another electronics company can come up with a serious competitor for Apple apps and products, Apple becomes the de facto gatekeeper.

Book publishers and newspaper moguls are worried about all this power in the hands of Steve Jobs and the potential for eating into their profits. But they have no alternative currently.

Record labels continue to fall flat on their faces adapting to new Internet and mobile devices. They are now stonewalling Apple on using recorded music for Apple’s new cloud-based and Lala-inspired streaming service which is due soon.

It sticks in the labels’ craw that Jobs now runs their business and that they in fact gave him the keys to their companies when he played to their piracy fears when pitching iTunes/iPod as a Napster killer. Now the labels have no choice but to play nice and yet they continue to go off the planet.

RIAA has won the initial phase of its lawsuit against LimeWire and in the process is opening the door to hundreds of other alternative services that will fulfill the public obsession with sharing music files. This could be worse for the labels than dealing with one entity such as LimeWire. Details on the labels “victory” are here.

Look to radio.

The industry has not adapted to Apple apps other than to create players that will allow consumers to listen to terrestrial radio or get minor content from cash-pinched stations.

In other words, Comcast can use an iPad to replace the cable remote and call that a success, but radio stations that use apps to allow for radio listening on mobile/Internet devices are failures for doing the same thing.

Well, not quite.

Radio could be a potent force in content and could make iPhones, iPads and iPods natural delivery systems for new content not currently on their terrestrial signals.

But broadcasters continue to insist that radio be consumed the way they need it (or want it) to be used instead of the way that best cooperates with the inevitable.

And what is the inevitable?

Look around.

I was at Glee Live Saturday night when the TV-inspired production company came to Phoenix. From mid theater you see the consumer telling you (if not begging you) to make content for the way they live now.

Phones everywhere. Pictures at the concert taken and transmitted immediately to Facebook pages everywhere.

Apple has done more than any company to dictate the future of the entertainment business without providing one single bit of content that they have to pay to produce.

In fact, they use content from third party sources and profit from it.

Like it or not, you’ll be attending sporting events some day and participating in the play by voting on whether the umpire’s call at first base was right or wrong. See the replay and then decide. Of course, the fans don't get the final say, but talk about social networking!

Then they will meet other fans in the stadium. Stay connected after the game.

Attend shows that are built to have content you can have in your lap on an iPad that enhances the traditional stage only presentation. Of course, you’ll be prompted to buy things while enjoying the show.

And in radio, 100 podcasts per locality and music services that are narrated by experts – unique and compelling. News available by zip code with GPS news alerts that come to you while you walk through the streets.

If I’m a broadcast company, I’m calling a brainstorming session. Turning the best minds loose and having them develop content for the new gold standard in broadcasting.

The Apple iPad with all its apps replaces broadcast transmitters and towers.

We may not like it, but it is starting to happen now.

http://insidemusicmedia.blogspot.com/2010/05/comcasts-breakthrough-ipad-app.html

Written by Jerry Del Colliano for Inside Music Media

Posted by Dexter Bryant Jr.
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Social Media Changes To Watch

By Jerry Del Colliano

The radio and music businesses used to be so simple.

Give the audience what they want and they'll come back for more.

Since the Internet, the mobile generation and the many alternate choices for entertainment available at a touch, swipe or click, these industries radio need to go back to school on social media changes.

Steve Jobs is the expert on reading his young consumer base. It doesn't matter that he is a baby boomer or that his tactics seem to be more old school than new age. But when it comes to understanding how consumers prefer to use new technology, he's the professor.

Still, there is hope which is why I want to run a few social media changes by you this morning to stimulate thought on how traditional media can come away with a better understanding of what consumers want them to do before they expend time, effort and money doing the opposite.

44% of all Americans Own an iPhone, iPod or MP3 Player

The Edison Research findings from a study of 1,753 people ages 12 and up.

Some 54% of them have used these types of devices with their car stereo and that is major. The 44% figure could actually be higher in my estimation but taken as presented nearly half of all Americans have the enemy to radio in their hands and cars.

The car is the main delivery point for terrestrial radio and it is being invaded by popular youth alternatives such as the Ford Sync entertainment system and hard drive, WiFi -- the better to listen to Pandora and other ways to access mobile content that is not traditional radio.

Pioneer is building a Pandora radio for car installation and no matter what the chattering class says to disparage Pandora, it is the gold standard for "radio" going forward.

Soon 50 million Pandora listeners (and growing) will be able to seamlessly access their favorite customized radio service as a built-in device. For everyone else, there will be apps and WiFi.

Conclusion: A car is no longer the sacred home of terrestrial radio and offering only a traditional radio station and nothing new or innovative in content will leave radio out of the hunt for what to listen to on wheels with the next generation.

48% of Americans Have At Least One Social Networking Profile

That's up from 34% in a study just one year earlier.

The Edison/Arbitron findings also reveal 30% of these folks check their profiles more than once a day (up from 18%).

Social networking is a bugaboo for radio companies who tend to blindly embrace Twitter and Facebook and turn social networking into direct marketing. That would be a mistake as I see it. Social networking is so named because there is a two-way communications component presumed in the description.

With so many people gravitating to social networking while traditional media grapples to make their new communications tool their new marketing tool, you can see trouble ahead.

Conclusion: Radio stations must either commit to direct and meaningful communication with social networking profiles or eliminate the direct mail approach. In the new age, you engage listeners who engage you because you are communicating with them. For stations not willing to staff up to interact with growing social media audiences, they will be considered a nuisance and will have missed a golden opportunity to connect.

The iPad Accounts For 5% of All Mobile Net Consumption

And that figure was revealed only one week after the device came out. Keep in mind the following charts are from early April when hardly any iPads were in the hands of consumers compared to today. Check out the growth potential for the iPad here.

Hitting 5% of mobile web consumption after only the first full day of use underscores the growth for not only the device itself but content accessed on it.

Conclusion: Radio has to step up and think visually with new products that are beyond just audio. The day has arrived when consumers will direct their entertainment using the iPad in their hands.

Radio may want to keep delivering only terrestrial streams, but with a consumer item that promises to be more prolific than perhaps any other electronic device that proceeded it, that would be shortsighted.

Get to the skunk works.

Break the mold.

Start inventing content that will be enhanced and embraced on the entertainment centers of the future -- the iPad and mobile Internet.

Now Consumers Will Start To Shut YOU Off

Seth Godin did a piece recently in which he confessed to getting tough with his incoming email and social networking messages.

Godin said:

"Two years ago, I started taking a lot of flak for being choosy about which incoming media I was willing to embrace. What I've recently seen is that this is a choice that's gaining momentum.

It's your day, and you get to decide, not the cloud. I could go on and on about this, but I know you've got email to check..."

As usual an interesting early warning from his intriguing mind. Godin is saying what many of us are thinking -- and that includes young people overwhelmed by social networking -- that the "enough is enough" phase has arrived.

Important because entertainment and information providers generally assume that they can get access to consumers through Facebook, Twitter, email and other content at a click of send. But if Godin is right -- and I believe he's onto something -- we'll be seeing a retreat from the deluge of messages and input that we receive digitally.

Conclusion: The repercussions could be great. Even as some industries like radio and records are trying to use social communication as today's direct mail, consumers have to protect themselves from the barrage of sheer content. What this says to me -- and I'd like you to mull this point as well -- is that we may have to start raising (or for that matter even establishing) standards for what we communicate to others.

It may be a cheap way to get the word out. Now what the "word" is apparently will matter more.

Mobile Bullying Is on the Rise

Look at these statistics from i-Safe.org:

• 42% of children are bullied online (25% more then once).
• 35% of children are threatened online (20% more then once).
• 58% 'admit' to receiving online messages which are hurtful and threatening (33% more then once).
• 60% do not inform their parents.
  

Even as content providers struggle to learn about the electronics of the next generation, it is becoming apparent that other problems -- some that may lead to legal liability -- are showing themselves.

I am told that "schools are hesitant to react because there's no firm national blueprint in place, and they are quick to cite 'other factors' because they don't want to assume liability".

Yet, we are beginning to see what I am sure will not be isolated examples of mobile bullying.

Eleven year old Tyler Lee of Chatsworth, GA was bullied about his "sexual orientation" although he had Aspergers Disease. Phoebe Prince moved to Massachusetts a year ago and 'picked the wrong' boyfriend. Parents find themselves helpless monitoring the activities of their children in the wide world of mobile/Internet. Eleven year old Jaheem Harris who was bullied starting in the 5th grade. There are '11' year old children who are hanging themselves over this.

Media companies looking to get into the mobile space can keep these things in mind when designing content that may be heard by young people. But, new and traditional media can speak out now using their existing resources to talk to parents and even students who will listen.

Conclusion: Radio to the rescue again. This is a perfect new age public service campaign that deserves leaders to stand up and act. Bullying tactics tend to center around sexual identity, discrimination and religion among other things. Children are even bullied for their disabilities.

For stations or content providers who want to step up now, here's how:

"Tell your parents or reach out to a trusted adult. Avoid online messages from bullies. If it's school related, inform them immediately as most schools are working on solutions and policies. Keep the message-they may be needed to take action. Protect yourself-never agree to meet with anyone you meet online. If bullied through chat, instant message 'block the bully.' If threatened with harm, notify the police".

The once simple process of entertaining and informing via traditional media has become more challenging and worrisome as technology helps enable a new generation to make different choices.

I hope some of these "Gen Trends" (and comments) are useful to you in decision making, working with teams and protecting your franchises.

My rule of thumb:

Open your eyes to how consumers use technology and act appropriately.

http://insidemusicmedia.blogspot.com/2010/05/social-media-changes-to-watch.html

Written by Jerry Del Colliano for Inside Music Media

Re-posted by Dexter Bryant Jr.

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How I See Radio's Digital Future

By Jerry Del Colliano

Imagine not having to tune in to a terrestrial radio show from 5 to 10 am but still hear the things about radio you used to love.

Instead -- a personality or team of personalities making content available on mobile devices like the iPod, iPad, iPhone, smartphones, car entertainment centers and whatever other technology may surface in the months and years ahead.

This terrestrial show does not exist on-the-air. Just as a cornucopia of features for your favorite mobile Internet device.

You’re a listener.

You choose from a menu of “bits” or “features” all variably timed. But you have the option to mash them up in a menu that, say, allows you to start with the “Kim Kardashian” bit and ends with Lady Gaga.

Or sample today’s content a la carte.

For now, the content is likely to be just talk because record labels have made it too expensive for Internet and mobile content providers to include music in these new media offerings.

But -- no worries.

There are plenty of places to get your fill of music once you’ve been entertained by "radio" personalities in the digital future.

And, at any time, you can take a break and choose an app that will give you the latest live, local newscast.

If you’re watching and not just listening, you can view the content -- see the pictures, videos.

Want to learn more, you can dig deeper and read – or save text for perusal later.

You can respond instantly through the traditional social networking tools or you could respond through a special, closed group of listeners known as “your fans”. These people can interact with each other. You can provide additional content and yes, you will be required to spend time interacting with your fans. In the future this will be seen as a benefit not a mass marketing tool.

While each segment may be sponsored in traditional ways with live-read commercials from your favorite personalities, produced commercials, unless they are very creative, would probably be a non-starter in the digital morning show of the future.

Of course, you could see visual ads on the phones and mobile devices.

But the greatest and largest source of revenue will come from event-based deployment of your fans – that is, on a regular (maybe even monthly basis), you invite fans to local venues to participate in live happenings that are sponsored by companies looking to have direct access to your fans.

A Wango Tango for niche groups, if you will – referring to the annual Clear Channel event developed by Roy Laughlin and still going strong today.

Parts of what I have just described are already available and some are under development.

But to bring it all together, radio companies have the inside advantage over other content companies in informing and entertaining digitally. Their biggest disadvantage is a dim view of the digital future.

Many of you are aware that I use my business as a “lab” to develop things such as paid models for content and the next iteration of social networking beyond Twitter and Facebook. I often first try what I ultimately recommend.

By the time I convene my next Media Solutions Lab in Scottsdale (January 27, 2011), I will share the latest successes and challenges with content providers in and out of the broadcasting space. We plan to spend some time on how to effectively transition to the digital future.

What is exciting is that the tower and transmitter is being replaced by the mobile Internet through intuitive and entertaining devices that fans carry with them – meaning you no longer have to wait for a car radio to be turned on or a clock radio to go off in the morning to connect with your fans.

These fans in the digital space are always connected – to you!

And you see I have used the term “fans” and not “P1s” because we need to humanize the audience. Ask me about the people who read my work every day and I can go on for a half hour. There are between 175,000 and 200,000 visits per month, passionate, well-informed people curiously looking to the future and trying to comprehend present media trends.

That's just the beginning in the era of social networking.

If I tell you that I communicate with up to 300 “fans” a day who write to me personally and actually know them from previous emails, circumstances, likes and dislikes, you'd begin to see that my view of the digital future is not to create new age excuses to do mass marketing but personalized contact to promote social networking.

Social networking is two-way communication -- not today's direct mail.

One third of all the topics I write about are suggested by “fans” – and most support my independence from undue advertiser influence.

The lines are blurred – and it’s a good thing.

Radio can be the provider of content – written, spoken, and viewed.

You and I can as well. You’ll hear me, see me (God forbid) and continue to interact.

But there are new rules.

One, all content must be unique.

Copycats may have worked in format radio but it will lay an egg here.

Two, what you present must be compelling – that is, will you start your day with it?

Will you end your day with it? Will you use it all day? Or just check in two, three, four times a day the way we used to encourage them to use news radio.

There will be no more traditional morning rush.

Each individual with access to mobile Internet will determine their own prime hours. Maybe they listen to Pandora on the way to work and listen to a favorite personality (sans music) at night or in their spare time.

And three, content must be addictive to succeed.

With an infinite number of streams, apps and ways to reach audiences, what you do must be so addicting that your fans will look forward to coming back for more.

Terrestrial radio will not die. There will still be an audience for 24/7 programming – but not repeater radio which is not unique, compelling or addictive. And terrestrial radio will likely never again be a growth industry as long as consumers want to be the PD of their mobile devices.

I see the digital future as an aggressive growth business which is being held back currently by music industry royalty impediments, radio companies in denial that 24/7 broadcasting is not how consumers want their content and the failure of many of us to embrace the unknown.

All it will take to buy a ticket of admission to the digital future, is an open mind.

And those tickets have been hard to come by in a media industry obsessed with the past.

http://insidemusicmedia.blogspot.com/2010/05/how-i-see-radios-digital-future.html

Written by Jerry Del Colliano

Posted by Dexter Bryant Jr.
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Lala Means Apple Loves Streaming

By Jerry Del Colliano

I got a kick out of some of the radio industry comment that Apple was shuttering recently acquired Palo Alto-based Lala – a company it purchased less than six months ago for $80 million.

The presumption being that Apple was not going to be offering a streaming music service that was thought to be another competitor to terrestrial radio.

What is really happening – to borrow a phrase from the great Delfonics Philly soul song “La La Means I Love You” is that Apple loves streaming from the “cloud” so much it is shutting down the failed Lala site in favor of redeploying Lala's streaming technology.

Lala was founded in 2006 and never really made it as a purveyor of free streaming music and access to cuts for only ten cents a song. Apparently iPod usage and traditional online filesharing was more attractive than letting users upload their libraries to a cloud.

Apple knows this.

Apple watchers who risk life and limb when they try to guess what Steve Jobs is up to next have been chattering about Apple’s presumed plan to allow iTunes users the ability to keep their music libraries and videos on Apple servers so that they can access them via any Internet or mobile Internet device anywhere – anytime.

Unlike radio companies, Apple was looking to buy people and technology not necessarily a failed company – thus the expenditure to buy Lala.

Steve Jobs has been teasing the Apple faithful that he has many more cool products to offer this year. (Full disclosure: I have been and am currently an Apple stockholder).

This new cloud-based subscription service from Apple may become more than just speculation within the next few months – that’s what I’m thinking.

Interesting that Wired.com is reporting that current Lala subscribers will get a refund worth one-tenth of the amount of music in iTunes that their money paid for on Lala.

So Lala will soon be dead but we can safely presume Apple didn’t buy the company to waste money.

Right now Apple is rolling through the media content business the way General Patton rolled through some battles in World War II.

There are going to be issues of great concern to media people of an Apple monopoly over electronic devices and content and I share those concerns although not enough to try to thwart the consumer revolution toward mobile Internet.

Apple is building a stranglehold on media delivery systems.

Fair to say it has the record labels by the balls.

In a few short years, Apple has become a major player in the cell phone business even with the unpopular AT&T as a mobile connect partner. And perhaps you noticed a significant strategic step Jobs took when he introduced the 3G iPad featuring a month-by-month option – no contracts – for the required AT&T service. Apple is that big and persuasive.

Now, publishers have mixed feelings about the bookstore that is becoming so popular on iPads. Publishers like that, unlike Amazon, Apple is letting publishers employ variable pricing, but other publishing houses fear that once Apple dominates the book market they will be at Steve Jobs’ mercy.

And that could very well be.

An ominous sign is that the variable price publishing option is only guaranteed for the first year -- at this point, anyway.

Radio owners know what happens when Jobs doesn’t like radio for his devices – they can’t get a chip built into popular mobile devices like iPods, iPhones or iPads – with the exception of the Nano. And that plus another few million listeners would not even make a difference for radio interests.

I think that Jobs wants to be Pandora.

There. I've said it.

Radio is not cool with Apple's young-targeted consumer base. And frankly, it’s hard to see an iPhone or iPod as a radio in the sense that the industry once saw the Walkman as a radio device.

If Jobs indeed wants to be Pandora, he could get started by offering a streaming service to his almost 150 million registered iTunes customers.

Keep in mind that’s 150 million active credit cards on file ready to buy things which could include subscriptions.

The thing with Steve Jobs is that when he says something publicly, he can be playing with the public. Jobs often disses that which he is eventually going to do at Apple.

The iPad would be a recent example.

In a sense, Jobs voted against it before he voted for it.

So Apple often says they are in it to sell electronics and the rest is just to help sell iPods, iPads, iPhones and computers.

Well, with all due respect to the most fascinating genius I have observed in a long time, I think Jobs is playing with us again. He is heading right into dominating the music business, publishing, newspapers, video and movie businesses and, yes, radio.

But not the radio industry its leaders still think has a chance with the next generation.

A new “radio” – streams of music and content that iTunes subscribers could sign up for and enjoy as an alternative to free music. That, in and of itself is incredible. Since when is free less desirable than paid?

That’s what is happening as large corporations figure out the Internet.

While television, radio, print, film and even gaming interests were out plying their trades, Apple was focusing on the changemakers – the young people that traditional media usually tend to ignore.

And now the threat exists that publishers will have to pay whatever Apple wants for inclusion in its mobile Internet empire or leave money on the table.

Yes, Apple is in it to sell electronics but with media executives asleep at the helm, you are now witnessing the first palpable signs that Steve Jobs is leading a frontal attack on these sleepy media businesses that let him bypass them and go directly to the consumer.

The critical difference is …

Jobs knows what he is doing.

Media executives know how to pander to Wall Street.

Think of the ramifications.

In five years, if everyone is accessing information and content on mobile Internet devices like the kind Apple sells – and that 150 million iTunes customer base just doubles – even the best over-the-air radio will be playing to deaf ears.

My message.

Tune into the consumer and let them drive innovation.

Build your content for Apple platforms no matter what the entry price.

Then learn to think like Steve Jobs and pray that some smart alternatives can compete with Apple someday.

Until then, watch the master at work as he eats traditional media executives alive in their own backyards.

http://insidemusicmedia.blogspot.com/2010/05/lala-means-apple-loves-streaming.html

Written by Jerry Del Colliano for Inside Music Media

Posted by Dexter Bryant Jr.
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What My iPad Is Teaching Me

By Jerry Del Colliano

My wife and I waited by the door for the FedEx delivery late last week.

We were expecting our 3G iPads. Birthdays seem to come so quickly but iPads seem to take forever. That’s how we felt.

Of course, I played with WiFi versions of the iPad at the Apple store but never took them home.

Now, I've got one to explore.

I know many of my friends who read me every day are interested in the convergence of technology with sociology so I’d like to share some thoughts prompted by actual iPad use.

And, what the iPad could mean in a year or two.

It was easy for me to set up because I handed it to my wife and she did it. But she told me it was easy.

The Mobile Me part worked fine. No glitches. The device itself was a pleasure to use. As the days went on I began to discover the full potential of the iPad.

Nonetheless, I am beginning to see things that need our attention if we plan to be part of the mobile Internet.

One of my neighbors, Taylor, an extremely bright eight-year old girl has already mastered my iPhone. When she visits, I hand her the phone. She scrolls through the screen and prepares our favorite little game – air hockey (Go Flyers!). Whereas older people tend to carefully move from click to scroll, young people have no fear and whip through it.

She chooses the “insane” option and gets a game of air hockey so wild you have to be fit mentally and physically. I won't be answering the question you're thinking which is -- has an eight-year old ever beaten you in air hockey?

When I was showing her Microsoft Word on my Mac one day, she learned it by capitalizing on the intuitive nature of Apple-based software. I mention an eight-year old for a reason – they will be in college in ten years or less and in the work force quickly.

Keep this market in mind.

I always do.

Using the iPad tells me that web designers and content creators are going to have to do more than just customizing apps to run their sites and programs.

The iPad is a different mindset.

So different in fact, I am changing the redesign of my website that is due to become a paid site this summer in ways I could not have previously predicted.

For example, had I not spent time with the iPad, I would have been inclined to build a real nice looking website for InsideMusicMedia.com – slick and colorful, easy to read and attractive.

But ...

But I contacted the designer and said, “we have to build this site optimized for the iPad – more visual, more intuitive, less cluttered, with the ten-inch screen in mind”.

In other words, simply redesigning a website for the computer is to miss the market that is developing. It’s like radio trying to cram terrestrial audio onto a stream and expect that consumers will listen to it the way we used to listen to a radio.

That brings me to music.

The current software – soon to change – on iPad does not allow for multitasking. Therefore, I wanted to play Pandora in the background while I was doing some mindless tasks and surfing the web, but currently, as with the iPhone, that is not possible.

Before the year is out, consumers will be able to enjoy music while they work and as good as this news seems for radio owners, it comes with new-age challenges.

For example:

1. Commercials in the background will either distract or at the very best be ignored as iPad users pour their attention into other things.

2. Content in the future will have to be designed to be used on-demand by consumers. That is, they will have to say, I want to enjoy this and will pay attention to it – somewhat like YouTube. I don’t put YouTube on in the background. I pay attention.

3. Shorter content will be warranted although not always mandated.

My friend Dick Carr whose Big Bands Ballads and Blues will one day be available to mobile Internet users (I hope!) will now be what I call destination listening.

And that’s going to be a big field.

Dave & Geri, the Grand Rapids morning team that recaptured their audience after they were set free by their radio employers, are also destination listening.

That’s good.

Very good.

It means they are compelling enough that local fans will want to choose to spend some of their valuable time with Dave & Geri.

But there’s more.

The iPad can and will do for radio content providers what the bookstore feature will do for reading. Digital publishers will offer print that is enhanced by video, pictures, links and even connections to other readers. Making only the text of books on this device is to leave out great multimedia potential.

Same for radio content providers.

And let me mention that when I say radio content providers I am not talking about anyone I know in this industry – yet.

However, I remain hopeful.

Repurposing talent or terrestrial content for mobile use is a lame game. It is not up to the exciting potential of a device such as the iPad.

Therefore, when radio people finally get into the mobile Internet, they will have to enhance their podcasts with video. Have content available with pictures or links. Have social networking access built in.

Maybe because I am launching my new project soon all of this hits me as a sobering message.

Study the iPad before making content decisions. Apple sold a million iPads in the first month that they were available. Rupert Murdoch said yesterday the iPad will lead to a revolution in media content -- read more here.

I know, I am an Apple shareholder and they certainly don’t need me to drum up business. But hold this thing in your hands. See why a calendar or to-do list is fun and addictive on an iPad where it can be mundane on a computer. See why over-the-air radio has to be rebuilt as on-demand content.

Fall asleep listening to audio or reading the next morning’s New York Times. Do it all – stay connected, be informed, get organized and be entertained on one device.

Radio can’t be radio on an iPad. It has to be more.

In spite of what industry executives would like to think -- mobile devices like iPads, iPhones, iPods and smartphones are not radios in the sense of a Walkman.

More context, more information, more links.

More ability of the user to become "the program director" and choose content.

Shorter content. Richer content.

Compelling and addictive.

We used to think radio got great ratings when it played more music.

Now, radio is going to have to play more media to attract attention.

If you’re interested, I’ll share observations I am learning along the way but one thing is for sure – the iPad is the first of its genre that will force content providers to rethink their visual, contextual and social approach to information and entertainment.

The great media convergence everyone predicted fifteen years ago never happened.

We got consolidation instead -- and that sure wasn't convergence.

What we’re seeing now in devices like the iPad – is the convergence of technology and sociology. The melding of the human condition and the mothers of invention, so to speak.

The old Apple motto that launched the MacIntosh into the consumers mindset was Think Different.

I am suggesting, with the iPad and mobile Internet revolution developing that phrase should becomeRethink Different.

http://insidemusicmedia.blogspot.com/2010/05/what-my-ipad-is-teaching-me.html

Written by Jerry Del Colliano for Inside Music Media

Posted by Dexter Bryant Jr.
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