The iPad is Coming, But Where’s The Content?

Nicole Martinelli ()

The iPad is Coming, But Where’s The Content?

CC-licensed, thanks Richard-G on Flickr.

You may have beat the crowd to pre-order an iPad, but when you pick it up April 3, Apple still doesn’t know content will be available for it.

According to a Wall Street Journal report, Apple is “scrambling” to firm up content deals just weeks before the device ships.

All of the usual unnamed insiders say that Apple has had a hard time lining up TV programs, digital newspapers and other content before the launch as media titans weigh the advantages of jumping on the iPad bandwagon against the potential threat to current revenue streams.

Talks are still on, according to these Cupertino deep throats, to secure discounted TV shows.  iPad users would get $0.99 downloads instead of the $1.99 and $2.99 they pay now at the iTunes store. Deals with newspapers, magazines and book publishers have all been put on the back burner for now.

If the numbers insiders cited in the story are correct — hundreds of thousands of iPads have been pre-ordered and Apple could sell more iPads in the first three months than iPhones in the first trimester after debut– the content owners could soon be the ones scrambling.

What, if any, content do you consider essential for the iPad?

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Via WSJ

17 comments »

About the author

nicole_martinelli

Nicole Martinelli is a San Francisco native who has lived in Milan and Florence, Italy. She's written for Wired.com, The New York Times and Newsweek. You can find her on Twitter , Facebook and Google+.

If you're doing something new/cool that's Apple related, email her about it.

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Posted in iPad, News |

  • JeremyJ

    I don’t really understand these stories. The only content Apple promised were in the form off books. Those appear to be ready to go. Cheaper tv shows would awesome but I’m not sure why Apple would be rushing to get deals ready fort the iPad.

  • talhah

    I agree. Surely the content has nothing to do with the actual device. I could very well sync my entire movie collection to my iPad and be well and truley happy.

  • Lars Pallesen

    Of course Apple would like to have as much content ready as possible for the iPad when it goes on sale, but I’m not too worried about it. It’ll all come to the iPad in due time. Remember the iPod and how Apple had to do a lot of footwork to get the record labels to get on the boeat? This is a new type of device requiring new types of content. TV-shows and movies in particular.

    Right now Apple is struggling to create a basic framework for how much a tv-show should retail for, and ironing out corresponding issues pertaining to copyright. Once again Apple is breaking new ground in the fields of making old world content available on 21st century digital devices, and the content owners in general have a hard time coming to terms with the rules of the digital world of online content. But Apple will get the deals eventually. They know what the future of media looks like, and it looks a lot like an iPad.

  • IcyFog

    None.
    I don’t need any special content. It’d be nice, but mostly I plan to use mine as a mobile surfing platform and e-reader.

  • http://www.hoggworks.com/ Brian Hogg

    Why is Apple needing to line up TV content? Don’t they already sell movies and TV shows on iTunes? Isn’t the main appeal of this device that it plugs into an existing ecosystem?

  • Josh

    iBooks…that’s my main content. The rest is gravy IMHO.

  • Bob W.

    Magazines and Newspapers definitely!!

  • http://www.macpredictions.com MacPredictions

    I don’t understand these stories either. iPad is just another device to access iTunes content – and Apple has more of this on offer than any other company. There will be no shortage of content for the iPad launch.

    Apple isn’t interested in magazines, newspapers and periodicals. Publishers can choose to make their own apps, or rely on their websites. Either way, it’s hardly going to make or break the iPad launch!

  • Maxx Wyler

    How misleading. Articles like this, in my book, are plainly irresponsible journalism. I’ll wait till the device is released before I start spreading the word that there is no content available for it. Regardless of whether TV shows become reduced in price they are still available. As far as Apple “scrambling”, they will be making deals for content long after the device is released as they do with music. Hmmm..last I looked, the itunes store was already filled with movies, tv shows, apps, books and music that will work with the iPad. I suppose pieces like this are designed to spwan clicks and increase readership however I am about ready to remove cultofmac from my newsfeed as the articles seem to be a bit off the beat and path. If I wanted journalism like this I would buy the National Enquire. It has all become a bit second rate.

  • Bill

    Let’s not forget that this “story” comes from WSJ. Not a big fan here…

    Anyway, back on topic. I agree with the other posters. I got my music, my movies, add the Web and I got it all…

    If there is something good about devices like the iPad trying to make deals with written content publishers, it’s that it might finally become enjoyable to read a newspaper on electronic devices.

    At the moment, it is near excruciating to get a similar experience on Web pages. Design is poorly made, they don’t seem to understand how it should be laid out on the virtual world. This may be a start towards new best practices and spread to the entire industry.

  • poppa

    Apple have made the ipad,its up to others to offer the content,as some have predicted there will be more tablet computers by the end of the year so content will surely follow..

  • http://www.macfans.com CG

    THIS IS NOT CULT OF MAC! IT’S SLAM APPLE!!!!!! What about the Miiiiiiillllllions of songs and movies and books, not to mention web sites, and email, etc you can access? That’s CONTENT…. Seems Cult of Mac is on a lame track of being more and more Apple bashing!

  • iphonerulez

    Are you for real? What the heck has been sitting in the iTMS all these years. No content. Then you tell me what tablet is going to have more content than Apple. You think the companies putting out the Adam, the JooJoo and HP Slate are going to have more content than the iPad. There are already plenty of book titles in the App Store that run on the iPhone and Touch and they will run on the iPad. Apple will have games up the wazoo for the iPad when it launches. Have you ever seen all the free content there is in iTunes U to download? You’d really better wake up and smell the coffee, dude.

    Haven’t you heard that Barnes and Nobles will have their eBook store ready for the iPad on launch. They have hundreds of thousands of titles in their digital catalog ready to download. You’re saying that isn’t enough content.
    http://bookclubs.barnesandnoble.com/t5/Unbound-nook-and-BN-eReader-Blog/eBooks-B-amp-N-eReader-for-iPad-Coming-Soon/ba-p/495666

    Why don’t you do some research instead of spouting BS about the iPad which hasn’t even launched yet? We’ll see how much content the competitor tablets have even a month after they launched.

    I remember last year there was some rumor that Apple was bringing in truckloads of books to their campus that they were going to digitize for their own bookstore. Not sure how valid that rumor was, but you never know.

  • Mezzrow

    Personally, I have tons of video content on my computer that I’ll be jazzed to be able to stream to something larger than an iPhone. But I also plan to make heavy use of it as an ebook reader and for games. There are so many iPhone games I’ve played that would be SO much better on a bigger touchscreen.

  • itskaye

    Books.

    Oh, and I think if someone could make an application that would, highlight specific texts from the e-Books and then records it into a separate document.. And then I could simultaneously write comments or record annotation or whatever from that highlighted part. And another thing, a visual Post-It flag of sorts which I could label. Copy and paste features for the books. For example, if the text books become available, and I want to use a specific image from the e-textbook for a presentation, that would totally be helpful. :-)

    Any app makers? Are you listening?

  • http://www.myspace.com/bleedingelement_04 Rob

    i have to say that the “extra content” would be nice…but I am going to use my Ipad for leisure….I love the fact that I will have constant Internet access everywhere I go! I love the fact that you can watch movies, and it feels like a tv screen in front of you!

  • http://www.definitivemind.com James Katt

    I have 30 GB of eBooks ready for the iPad.
    I have 80 GB of Music ready for the iPad.
    I have 300 GB of Movies ready for the iPad.
    I have 500 GB of Photos ready for the iPad.
    There is a ton of content from the Internet.

    There is a ton of content for the iPad.

    If you have iTunes, you already have much of this content.