A New Canvas

Fever pitch would best describe the current rumor and excitement level going on right now about the new Apple Tablet/Slate/flat-thing-a-ma-bob that’s set to be announced on January 27th. I’m excited about it sure, a touch skeptical that it’ll be a huge game changer, but a big part of me really hopes it is.

I’m sure the hardware is going to be sexy, I’m confident Apple is going to come up with a way to do some sort of text entry, maybe not for your next novel, but it’ll work. If this sucker is wildly successful and sells like hotcakes, what gets me excited is that there’s going to be a new way to design digital content.

This new Apple device, in addition to whatever else they may be planning, could create a new ecosystem that gives people a reason to purchase periodical type content again. To spend a little extra for something exclusive, for the video and the audio additions, but also because it’s designed better.

Why would people want this?

It’s two simple words—premium content. Think HBO or Showtime. The Wall Street Journal has been able to carve out a nice little niche on the web too. The problem is people think of that content as free, and it works well that way.

That said, I miss reading the newspaper and beautifully laid out magazines, something a bit more researched and without that feel that I need to click the next item in my feed reader. I don’t want to deal with the hassle of an actual paper or the environmental impact of all that waste.

I want the best of both worlds. Beautifully laid out content, complete with audio and video, but delivered to me automatically on a device that’s designed to read on. Not something that’s already has too many alerts and notifications to pull me away from reading, watching or listening.

What makes this different then just a fancy website?

First, just go check out this Mag+ concept by Bonnier R&D. Still not convinced?

With a device like this, the content would be designed to be consumed on that specific device size (whatever it is) and not have to worry about fixed vs. fluid layouts and IE6 like designers have to do on the web. It could have full CSS3 support, no cross browser javascript woes and a much larger set of native type to choose from pre-loaded on the device.

Best of all, all the web designers out there would already know how to build for it because the content that will be produced for this new device will use HTML/CSS/Javascript and wouldn’t require them to learn Objective-C. Sure, it’ll probably offer the ability for developers to write apps in that too, but I’m talking about the designers formatting the content to be consumed on the device.

And then, the big one, getting paid for your content directly instead of relying on advertising with some sort of subscription model that’s built right into iTunes where Apple is already storing credit cards.

Why would content producers want this?

Clearly the big newspapers are struggling, hell they whole media industry is struggling to sustain themselves on the internet. If Apple is able to change the game, this might help give them a revenue model they’ve been searching for since they haven’t been able to come up with something better than drowning their sites with ads. Of course, Apple wouldn’t be opposed to taking a cut to provide a new model they haven’t been able to come up with yet.

In the end, I’m less concerned about all the specifications of the new device and more excited about the potential it can offer designers. Better tools and a canvas for richer experiences, a revenue model that gives content producers a better way to create and consumers higher quality, beautiful content.