Today, Apple began accepting pre-orders for its iPad (to be released in late April).
Leave aside the hype over the device itself, or the chattering from the fanboys. The iPad's true significance is in the way it might change the commercial model of the internet itself.
Instead of browsing the web, which it will do fairly well (although without Flash), it will emphasise the use of downloadable apps. And, unlike websites, we pay for apps. So Apple is clearly staking out a model that seeks to make money from an internet-type experience.
It has already made a good fist of this with the App Store, which stocks over 150,000 apps and is hurtling towards three billion downloads, an astonishing achievement. Other companies have quickly seen the potential of this model and have moved to create their own apps or app platforms. It is now very likely that there is more development and innovation of apps than general websites.
This is a trend that must be taken seriously, not least by newspapers. Up to now, newspapers have invested lots of money in free websites that have not delivered any significant business for them. Worse, they have sucked readers away from buying the physical product. But an app could be a different proposition.
Comments