Main focus of Thursday, January 28, 2010

Apple's ideas influence information culture

Apple boss Steve Jobs presented his new tablet computer, the iPad, in San Francisco on Wednesday. This hybrid between a laptop and an iPhone could radically change the way we consume culture, writes the press.

La Vanguardia - Spain

Apple's new product could change cultural habits, the daily La Vanguardia writes: "The economic aspect of this operation is important. Apple, which has already sold 250 million iPods, is confident it will access another lucrative business channel with the iPad. But we should above all pay attention to the social aspect in that the iPad could change our cultural habits and the balance of power between creators, editors, distributors and consumers of content. It won't be easy to steer this complex transformation. But if it works perhaps Apple will establish a dominant new paradigm in the area of communications and culture." (28/01/2010)

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Hospodářské noviny - Czech Republic

Apple is breaking new ground with the iPad, writes the business paper Hospodářské Noviny: "A device that's just one centimetre thick and weighs only 700 grammes is getting as much media coverage as the talks in Davos, the catastrophe in Haiti and the war in Afghanistan. Why was everyone waiting with bated breath yesterday for showmaster Steve Jobs to reveal the new development with the Apple logo? Because this apple has proven that it can change the world. The iPod changed the world of listening to music, the iPhone changed the world of telephoning and the iPad can now very quickly change the way we read books and newspapers and look at photos. When Apple comes out with something like this it's got to be taken seriously. They're the best in the world at selling their good ideas. By the looks of it our world is in for another shake-up, and the days of Johannes Gutenberg and his printing press are numbered." (28/01/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Literature, » Online media, » Corporations, » U.S., » Global
All available articles from » Petr Šimůnek

Kurier - Austria

Apple boss Steve Jobs presented his new product delivering yet another virtuoso performance on the marketing keyboard, the daily Kurier comments: "In the beginning 'app' simply stood for application. But now that millions of iPhone users can't and don't want to boil their eggs, write their shopping lists, tune their instruments, get pregnant, think positively, count sheep, make coffee, hang up pictures, predict their mood swings, find their way home …  without their 'apps' it looks like 'app' has become an ingenious abbreviation for 'Apple'. While others do global advertising, Apple makes millions by creating new 'must have' products and sending them on their way to hungry trendsetters. The same goes for the new iPad, for which we can predict a great future (even without the aid of a Fortune Teller app). For skilfully disguised guessing games on the web make Apple products indispensable even before we get to know them: the people who have revolutionised the world of mobile communications are virtuosos at turning it to their advantage." (27/01/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Online media, » Corporations, » Global
All available articles from » Birgit Braunrath

The Times - United Kingdom

The new technology offered by the iPad means people will have to become even more skilled at sorting their way through the ubiquitious flood of information from the Internet, British daily The Times writes: "The new Apple iPad is merely the latest step in the fusion of the human mind and the internet. ... Reading the web usefully requires a new form of literacy, the ability to sift from the abundance of information what is helpful from what is pointless or merely distracting. ... A few hundred years ago literacy was rare and extremely valuable. Today anyone with an internet connection and a keyboard is a publisher. A generation ago knowledge had to be actively sought out; today we are bombarded with information, much of it bad, biased or simply irrelevant." (28/01/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Online media, » Social movements, » Europe, » U.S.
All available articles from » Ben Macintyre

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