Why journos are in luurrve with Apple's iPad-thingy

Let's pretend for a minute that Apple isn't a company with just five per cent of the global mobile phone market and a similar share of the home PC market, and let's pretend the fact they're probably about to launch a hybrid tablet PC/Kindle-type gadget which we may or may not really want is big news.

That would certainly make it a lot easier to care about the vast amounts of coverage the story is getting in the media. The Telegraph is boasting that it has the only journo from a UK national attending the launch (is this true? We demand to know!).

Benjamin Cohen over at Channel 4 asks 'is this the end of laptops' - probably not - while Rory Cellan-Jones has got his high-tech knickers in a right old twist rushing from studio to studio at BBC Centre telling the world - or the out of work who are still watching Breakfast News at 8:10am, but unlikely to invest in expensive gadgets any time soon - about this story. Or rather what the story probably is. He's barely had time to Tweet about it.

Yesterday's Independent, you may not have seen, even had a great big supplement all about how bloody marvellous Apple gadgets are.

But why?

Well on one level it's because 'Apple rocks, dude, they're super-mega awesomeness and their kit is, like, so whack' - as any self-respecting fan-boy will tell you - but also it has much to do in this instance with who's writing the story rather than who is interested in it. If you go back to those percentages of Apple's market share and then look instead only at the UK media industry and its wider ecosystem (PR types, designers, advertising, marketing etc...) you'll find those reasonably unspectacular market shares suddenly disproportionately larger.

For the Mac-typing, iPhone-chatting, iPod-listening, style-conscious, trend-following 30-something (give or take) the movements of Apple are important and this does look like a bigger story. So damn it, they're going to write about.

Furthermore the story is also being talked up by a media that enjoys writing about the media as the next important step in the future of publishing. Could Steve Jobs be about to single-handedly save the media? Probably not, but at least he's given them something to talk about for a couple of days.

It all reminds me of this outstanding spoof from The Onion. Watch and enjoy:  

Apple Introduces Revolutionary New Laptop With No Keyboard

Comments

[Ian McKee]

The Guardian Tweeted this morning that they've got a journo there - http://twitter.com/guardiantech/status/8273010578

Agree though. I'm a self-respecting Apple fan boy, but then I'm also a 20 something PR/media type. Very easy to lose perspective on these things...

It could be great though, I've been loving the wheel on my MacBook! ;)

[David Stone]

The Telegraph's 'only journo from a UK daily' claim was quickly shot down by other reporters going 'uh, I'm there! as is xxx'.

[timsvengali]

Well said. It has been truly staggering to see the amount of press coverage that the launch of an expensive consumer electronics device has received. When this happens it seems the press often get into a hyperbole competition to announce how important it is - before it exists. Apple must be chuckling their casual socks off.

If anyone's interested I did an analysis on how often the press claim Apple and Microsoft are "revolutionary" (and how often they claim it for themselves): it's here http://wp.me/pmzBS-gw

[Gonzo]

This is just poor unoriginal journalism. It is not SO great of a story that it deserves 1/2 page on EVERY singly UK broadsheet. These are papers that are supposed to tackle imperative socio-economic events with impact on the UK public. The iPad doesn't and isnt

[Danstweet]

This isn't just another iPhone or Macbook announcement. It's something entirely new. This is the first tablet that is vaguely useful, and where other tablets have tried and failed completely, this (for the reasons below) won't. Yes, the reason it has attracted so much press is because it's an Apple product, but in reality, there are three reasons why the iPad is so important. 1. If it is anywhere near as successful as any other Apple product, it's the end for clunky e-book readers. 2. It's the same situation for netbooks, and smaller laptops. 3. (And this is the big one), it has the potential to redefine video gaming. The iPad is a handheld with the graphics and processing of a console, and it could change the gaming landscape forever, just like the Wii did. That doesn't change the fact that tabloid tech news is shoddy to say the least, but the substance behind the story is what makes it so crucial...in my opinion! P.s. I am a fanboy.