2. It’s a book, it’s a movie, it’s… an app
Anthony Zuiker (CSI) released a “digi-novel” last year, wherein a printed book contained a URL every 20 pages; readers could enter the URL into a browser and watch a related online video. In a lot of ways transmedia storytelling to date has been mostly about promotion (The Dark Knight, for example, used an Alternate Reality Game to promote its theatrical release), but the iPad offers a different set of possibilities: instead of these experiences existing as separate, promotional entrypoints, they can all be brought together on one platform. This is not to say that a project can’t have a live component that exists separately, but the iPad will play a pivotal role in bringing together different forms of storytelling: words, still images, moving images, audio, and interactive experiences can all live together on one handheld, connected device. The iPad will profoundly blur the line between book, movie, and game, and it will do so by offering these new-media experiences for sale through iTunes as… an application. When you’re developing a cross-platform story, what happens if you can’t define your project along clear lines? Should I say it? “There’s an app for that.”
And to add my own two coppers to it - we get a work surface that's also the final display. That is, you can draw your image, manipulate it, and upload it to the store with a device the size of a netbook (and half the weight).
This is only the beginning...
3 comments:
Everything you describe can be done on a modern laptop. What's the real difference? Smaller ipods are not a major difference over larger ipods, it was the concept of an ipod in the first place that was different and i just don't see the iPad being that world shaking.
Yes for artists it probably will be. You can fingerpaint on screen (as you could on an iPhone, which is a huge up-tick from mouse and stylus.
Then again I've never understood why folks buy $500 Kindles to read pdf files. Maybe I'm wrong and people just want to buy new stuff.
given its 4:3 aspect ratio in a world of 16:9 production on a less than 10" diagonal screen. well, its kind of cute, twee almost. and while looking for redeeming qualities on the apple site, i noted that they put their horrible, nasty high gloss screen on the thing. i've considered picking up an ibook or a mac book pro because my beloved 15" g4 titanium is getting a tad long in the tooth but i absolutely will not have anything to do with the glaring eyestrain coming off the glossy screens. so i'll be shopping the refurbs and used stuff. all features aside, for me that is a total deal breaker.
a friend of mine is a complete apple fanboy, he blew off two paying gigs to strok... er, partake in the grand unveiling. and he was almost apoplectic when the rest of his friends didn't make whoopsy in their trousers for the latest gizmo. this isn't a game changer, its just another device and not a vastly superior means of doing the exact same stuff i already do with gear that works perfectly well. in a number of ways, user interface aside, its a big jump back in power and utility. and the next time somebody tells me i'm crazy for not loving it because the next release will even awesomer, the next os actually functional, i'll be inclined to mock them openly.
sorry bill but this thing doesn't actually do anything that i can't already do just as well, if not better, with gear i already own. my lines aren't blurred at all.
Bill -
Gotta agree with the commenters above. I don't think the iPad significantly moves the game forward. It opens a lot of doors for creators (similar to the way the AppleTV did) but it does no good if there is no one waiting behind the door to consume our content. With the iPad, I just don't think it'll be a major hit.
I'm hoping for a significant 2.0 upgrade (similar to the iPhone 3G), and then perhaps we'll see a bigger jumping-on.
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