{"id":136002,"date":"2010-01-04T13:40:00","date_gmt":"2010-01-04T18:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"tag:business.theatlantic.com,2010:\/\/3.32901"},"modified":"2010-01-04T13:29:02","modified_gmt":"2010-01-04T18:29:02","slug":"the-apple-islate-wont-save-journalism-yet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/136002","title":{"rendered":"The Apple iSlate Won’t Save Journalism — Yet"},"content":{"rendered":"

“There hasn’t been this much hype about a tablet since Moses came down from the mountain,” David Carr gushes<\/a> about the forthcoming Apple tablet, which promises to be something like the missing link between e-reader and computer. I’m excited, too! There’s a lot to talk about with Apple’s new “iSlate,” from tech specs to industry implications. But let’s focus on the most proximate question — for me at least. Can it save journalism?<\/p>\n

One way to look at the last ten years in online media is that the
\naughts were the decade when tech savvy Americans learned to expect
\neverything they could read, watch and hear to be free. The next decade
\nwill have to be The Empire Strikes Back<\/i> for media companies. Consumers will have to re-learn the mental muscle memory of paying for what we consume.<\/p>\n

The e-reader is a huge part of the puzzle. Publishers who blew it by
\ngiving away everything for free on computers have a raft of new
\ne-reader gizmos where they can charge for access to their content and
\ntrain readers to expect to pay for the content. The Apple “iSlate”
\nrepresents the apotheosis of the early e-reader revolution. Ideally,
\ntechies expect a blown-up iPhone with a touchable screen, readable text
\nand goshwow graphics capabilities. This kind of machine combined with an online digital storefront for magazines and newspapers<\/a> could presumably persuade readers to start paying for the privilege of reading news again. Carr elaborates:<\/p>\n

A simple, reliable interface for gaining access to paid content can do
\namazing things: Five years ago, almost no one paid for music online and
\nnow, nine billion or so songs sold later, we know that people are
\nwilling to pay if the price is right and the convenience is there.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I’m on Carr’s side here: salivating for the Apple tablet; excited for
\nthe Hulu-for-magazines project; rooting for a Journalism Savior; and so
\non. But the first step is key. Newspapers and magazines have to
\neventually put up a paid wall for readers. This is very simple: Nobody
\nwill pay for something they can easily get conveniently, and for free.
\nWithout a pay wall perimeter around journalism’s finest estates, the
\nApple iSlate won’t be a savior. It’ll be just another device where we
\nget free stuff.


\n

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“There hasn’t been this much hype about a tablet since Moses came down from the mountain,” David Carr gushes about the forthcoming Apple tablet, which promises to be something like the missing link between e-reader and computer. I’m excited, too! There’s a lot to talk about with Apple’s new “iSlate,” from tech specs to industry […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1534,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-136002","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136002","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1534"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=136002"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136002\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=136002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=136002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}