How Apple iPad Will Change Your Digital Life

Now that Apple iPad has been officially released, it is time to discuss how much potential this device actually has. Many people find this topic interesting to speculate with as there are several scenarios how this kind of device can revolutionize the printed media. Naturally, Apple iPad is targetted to beat Amazon’s Kindle device which is about the same size as Apple’s iPad.

Apple has now widen its offering in the iTunes store to include iBooks store to ensure there is enough content available for the new device. Amazon is currently leading the way on ebook market with the popular Kindle but it might change if Apple gets enough publishers and content on their side.

Another aspect I personally like is the large screen web browser similar to iPod Touch. I really like the browsing experience with the iPod Touch, but the screen is simply too small. This also allows to redesign certain websites to become even more interactive as you are not limited with a mouse control, but you can work with the multi-touch controls. The IKEA catalogue demo below is a good example on how their current online catalogue could become even more alive with iPad.

From education point of view, Apple iPad could be interesting offering to schools and universities to publish study material on a iPad. Many schools already today have a contract with Apple and other computer providers to offer hardware and study materials online. This would be a big relief to many students carrying heavy bags with them every day.

Surely, it would be a big investment, but when dividing the cost of the device into a several years of studying, it does not actually look that big investment. Similarly, the publishing costs are cheaper for the digital content, so probably publishers could be selling these books slightly cheaper on digital format. Having iTunes as a publishing platform, publishers would not need to worry about piracy too much as DRM protection would be built in by iTunes.

While Apple will probably be busy getting all kind of printed media into the iTunes they want to make iPad something that is not only another e-book reader, but to change the way how we experience the digital media. The YouTube illustration video below is a good example how I could envision future newspaper look like.

So this is one view on how Apple iPad can be used to redefine the way we consume printed media. What do you think? What would you like your iPad do for you?