media

A great write-up at Media Shift asks an important question: Is media becoming too device-dependent?

Speaking of the surge in Hearst Media subscriptions following the launch of the purse-sized iPad mini, they concede that “new formats drive new business models,” and while this is not necessarily a bad thing, they also admit that retooling is expensive, and publishers “can easily spend too heavily just trying to keep up.”

And it’s not just media companies, either; my write-up on the forthcoming Google Play for Education initiative highlights the same fallacy. Google can build the best ‘app store’ in the business, but a school like mine, which has already heavily invested in iPads, is not going to be willing (or able!) to jump ship so fast.

If Google could instead launch a device-agnostic system based on Web apps instead of coded-for-Android ones, it could be used not just on the Nexus, but on a host of other products as well. Wouldn’t that be a better way?

NO COMMENTS

  1. Yes, the web works on pretty much anything. The trick is that the skills to build a book for a web app are not as broadly distributed as the skills to use iBooks Author. Can’t tell you how many ebook-related conference sessions I’ve been to this year where that has been the theme. It is a frustrating reality.

The TeleRead community values your civil and thoughtful comments. We use a cache, so expect a delay. Problems? E-mail newteleread@gmail.com.