To Deliver, iPad Needs Media Deals

After seeing Apple's presentation of the new iPad, Karr can't say for sure that future has arrived, "but I'm pretty sure we can see it from here."

Critics who suggested that Apple unveiled little more than an iPhone that won't fit in your pocket don't seem to understand that by scaling the iPhone experience, the iPad becomes a different species. Media companies now have a new platform that presents content in an intimate way. "Looking at it through the lens of whether or not it has new features and applications misses the point," said Craig Moffett, an analyst at Bernstein Research. "It is nine times larger than an iPhone, and that is fundamentally a new application." That application isn't work, not without a keyboard (touch-typing with all fingers on a virtual keyboard is miserable) or a camera.

This is a device for consuming media, not creating it. So are the media providers ready to deliver? Yes and, sadly, no.