Early Adopters: Which industries have been quick to jump on board the iPad?
Longtail’s occasional look at trends anddevelopments in the digital space.
The iPad. It’s first orders have finally reached the hands of happy West Australian customers, including our MD Carlo. This week I have explored how tourism, publishing, entertainment and apparel have been quick to integrate iPads into their business and marketing approach. Along the way I’ve included some take-aways to consider for your own brand and business.
Why should you be at least open-minded to the iPad?
Just look at the drop in sales of netbooks in April when the iPad launched and the slump ever since it was first announced. This gives us an idea of the potential of people to replace their laptops.
Within 3 years the stripped down versions of the iPad(16GB wireless) are likely to retail at $199. Suddenly households canafford to have a few of them around the house. Henry Blodgetpredicts they will be left around the house like today’s books,newspaper and magazines for anyone in the household to pick up and use.
So let’s look at how some industries have adopted the iPad.
Tourism
InterContinentalHotels & Resorts concierges will use the iPad to help their guestswith directions through interactive maps on the device withhigh-resolution satellite imagery, close-up street views and detailedwalking routes. They will utilize the hotels own destination-specificvideos, to bring recommendations to life and make bookings andconfirmations instantly by e-mail.
How could your staff use the iPad as tool to help customers?
Jetstarhas just announced plans to use the iPad as an in-flight entertainmentdevice. They are claiming a world first, although so is Bluebox Avionics.
It’s a relatively cost device to lend/hire to your customers duringtheir experience with your business. Could you integrate it at yourpoint of sale, showroom?
Publishing
New York Times,Wired, GQ, The Australian and Mashable are just a handful of magazines,blogs and newspapers to get onboard and launch their own iPad app.
Thegood news for the publishing industry is we are now used to paying forapps on the mobile, so it’s a logical assumption we’ll be happy to payfor iPad apps too.
Wired
Wired sold 24,000 iPad apps on its first day in theApp Store at $4.99USD. It’s also interesting to get the point of view from Wired’s creative director.
Time Magazine (Watch)
New York Times (Watch)
I like the way you can save and sync stories to your iPhone.
Sports Illustrated
One of the features I really liked was the interactivity between watching the game on TV and seeing live results on your iPad.
Thischanges the way we read magazines and the paper. Instead of flickingthrough magazines we’ll be sliding and side swiping. To zoom in and outon copy and photos we’ll be pinching. We can launch video, slideshowsof imagery all at full screen. The experience becomes more immersiveand less linear. We’ll need to consider all the different ways peoplewill now expect to experience content.
Advertising in these appsbrings with it limitless opportunities in video and using the uniquetilt, shake, pinch, rotate functionality to make your messaging trulyinteractive.
Entertainment
Walt Disney were fast tolaunch an iPad app just in time for the premiere of the movie Alice in Wonderland. As this video shows they utilise the ’tilt’, ‘shake’,’rotate’ interactivity really well.
Nike Football Training iPad App
Withthis app football coaches can tailor their own training programs basedon top international teams, watch tutorials from top players, improvetheir teams via training drills, instructions, challenges, tests andinformation on how coaches can get the best out of their players.
iPad apps are another way to deliver useful services or utilities to your market.
Editd
Editdby Stylesignal delivers fashions forecasts viaan iPad app. Subscribers can now “pinch to zoom, touch to see a colourpalette based on industry referenced colours, or move from street stylephotos to catwalk pictures at the flick of a finger,” it says.
The pinch to zoom delivers incredible detail which a paper catalogue oronline photos simply can’t compete with. When you add video, liveupdates, personalization and mobility into the mix suddenly productcatalogues get a whole lot richer.
That’s just a quick tour around some of the early adopters of iPads. You can see more references at the end of the post.
Let me leave you with some thoughts from industry leaders, courtesy of Wired
Gina Bianchini – CEO, Ning
Asmartphone is mobile, but it isn’t fun to browse on. On a laptop, thetechnology is built in, but few want to carry around a 6-pound computerfor the privilege of using a browser. The tablet bridges this gap.People will not only engage in new social experiences but will do so ona device that’s easy (and beautiful) to use, wherever they may feel soinspired.
Nicholas Negroponte – Founder, One Laptop per Child; first investor in Wired
Textingis replacing talking, and thumbs are replacing lips. Laptops,meanwhile, are not mobile. They are nomadic. You have to sit down touse
one and do battle for a connection. Standing with a laptop isentirely unsatisfactory.
Tablets are therefore the new frontier.They are the new book, the new newspaper, the new magazine, the new TVscreen, and potentially the new laptop.
Emily Ryan – Strategy Director
More reading:
Mashable: 10 Must-Have Apps for the New iPad Owner
Longtail: Does the iPad affect you?
Reviews:
10 Comments
What a piece of shit.
I f#@^**@ hate my iPhone, why would I want a bigger, clunkier version of it.
No flash, no camera, no multi-tasking, what a piece of shit….
No flash, great. No camera, my phone has one. No multi-tasking, go buy a laptop.
ah i have an earache and it’s all Apple’s fault
I have only had my iPhone for 6 months but I happen to love it.
It makes me go all sqishy between my thighs every time I get it out. Big touchscreen, and very user friendly if you know what I mean!. More pleasing than my old Nokia.
11.49 No one can disagree that Apple have kicked ass on the aesthetics not even you. I think what you’re suggesting is that Apple are likened to an imputent Brad Pitt?
I like my iphone but would love to get my hands on an iPad to have a look see.
I think its pretty sensational from what I’ve seen and been told.
If its no good people won’t buy it, thats the way of the world.
It just so happens that the iphone is globally huge – can we all be wrong?
I shouted myself one for my birthday-It’s awesome to play solitaire on. i don’t have to squint to see the cards properly.
^
Glasses would have been cheaper Andrew.
And they’d do more.
Maybe soon we’ll all be tweeting whilst spilling the breakfast milk over the dog or possibly the thing will ‘go off’ in sync with your partner because you forgot to turn the thing off before having an early night? There’s a time and place for everything in an already busy day.
Lets all embrace and enjoy, but at the same time keeping it all in perspective.
PS ‘Henry Blodget’ – what a wonderful name.
Beware all ye who enter the evil Apple universe from whence there is no return!
10.38 – Thanks for that comment Bill. Utopia is really not that bad. You should try and pop in some time.