Ipad Media Coverage and the Year I Ruined Christmas

What do the year I ruined Christmas and Apple's new iPad event this week have in common? More than you may realize.

I've been interested in the media coverage of Wednesday's Apple iPad event.

Typically following one of these event's the media coverage is off the charts. Front page, features, top-of-the-fold type of stuff. But this iPad cycle feels a bit different--like the craze is a bit more laid back.

For certain the Apple PR shop is racking up billions of impressions with the coverage generated by yesterday's 90 minute event. But the coverage this morning seemed a bit like "meh".

I captured some screen shots of the electronic coverage I read on my iPad2. It seemed like headlines and placements were much more subdued.


The Daily

Remember, The Daily is THE news app created by News Corp specifically for iPad.

Rupert and company gave Tim Cook only the lower third of the screen, trumped by FLOTUS Michelle Obama and her fight against slime.

The Wall Street Journal

The WSJ relegated the iPad event coverage to the Marketplace section of the paper. No front page coverage here. Instead, the Journal lead with top-of-the-fold front page coverage on a potentially negative story about Apple related litigation.

USA Today

USA Today, the nation's paper, featured the iPad in the rotating featured on the front page. But the story links to the tech section where iPad got top billing. Kind of front page coverage, but in a feature-like kind of way.

New York Times

The Times iPad app version pushed coverage all the way down to the Technology section. As you can see below, they produced multi-media content, but there was not mention in the middle of this morning about iPad at all in the front section. Just another tech story....

The Columbus Dispatch

iPad coverage got pushed to page two of the front section of the Columbus Dispatch. The paper ran AP copy of the event. A pretty minimal story from AP that ran the night before online.

Zite

And this morning, iPad news app Zite even minimized iPad coverage, relegating it to second place on the Top Stories page. There were many more iPad-related stories in the Mac News and iPhone sections of the app, but again, no "top billing" coverage as in the past.

So What Does This Mean?

It's non-scientific, but the watered-down coverage of the iPad update this week is a sure sign of a few dynamics.

• We're are past the point of revolution.  When iPad was first launched in 2010 it was truly revolutionary and generated blockbuster coverage. That type of thing only happens once. The surprise of the tablet experience is out of the bag and what was once "breaking news" is now becoming just another tech event.
• Tim Cook isn't Steve Jobs. Let's face it--there was not a "one more thing" moment at yesterday's event. Tim Cook is an able leader for Apple, but he isn't capable of that showmanship that Steve Jobs brought to these events in the past.  Is it possible that some of the appeal of Apple died with Jobs? 
• Leaks let the air out of the news value. The rumor mill around these Apple events is a major factor in news coverage. Three weeks ago, we knew that we were looking at Retina display, 4G and a faster chip. With yesterday's event, I felt like I did that year when I found all my brothers and sisters Christmas presents in a cupboard in the basement. My "discovery" dashed the magic out of that Christmas. Yesterday brought that feeling clearly to mind.

Regardless of the news value, the new iPad kicks all other tablets to the curb. The news isn't necessarily in the new device. The real news is it is beginning to define our habits and our culture in the 21st Century digital age.

And just because I found the presents that one year when I was a kid....I still love Christmas!!!

And I loves me my iPad!!

Your thoughts on the media coverage? Are you delighted or non-plussed by the new iPad?