Tablet Ownership Doubles and Why You Should Care

If you think everyone in your circle of influence is tapping on a tablet these days, you’re not alone. According to the Pew Research Center, more than one third (34%) of American adults now own a tablet device of some kind, almost double the 18 percent adoption rate at this time a year ago. The recent Pew report said tablet adoption spikes in the 35-44 age bracket and appears to rise alongside educational attainment and household income level. The most popular brands are iPad, Samsung Galaxy Tab, Google Nexus and Kindle Fire. No surprises there.

What struck us most about the Pew report is that tablets, unlike smartphones, are still owned primarily by the high income/high education demographic that your clients fall into:

·         Those living in households earning at least $75,000 per year (56%), compared with lower income brackets

• Adults ages 35-44 (49%), compared with younger and older adults
• College graduates (49%), compared with adults with lower levels of education

Unlike smartphones, which are most popular with younger adults ages 18-34, the highest rates of tablet ownership is among adults in their late 30s and early 40s. In fact, almost half of adults ages 35-44 now own a tablet computer, significantly more than any other age group. There are no statistically significant differences in tablet ownership between men and women, or between members of different racial or ethnic groups. But, that 35-44 demo is going to be the heart of your target market in the next 5-10 years.

What this means for me?

First, while all the online gurus from inside and outside your organization are telling you make everything mobile friendly, you need to distinguish between all things mobile. What resonates on a 7-9 inch tablet screen can be vastly different than what works on a tiny smartphone screen. Also, remember that some of your younger web designers and marketing folks are not the same demographic as you and your clients. They’re more likely to be smartphone slingers than tablet tappers. Don’t let them push you into designing what’s best for them and their peers. You’re paying them to design what’s best for you and your client base.

Macro View

Expect the Fed to drive the nervous nellies (aka profit takers) on Wall Street crazy for a few more weeks. But the underlying economic indicators continue to point upward. Slowly and surely upward like the last stages of a high altitude mountain climb or bike race—but the key word is “up.”

Housing starts rose 6.8 percent in May according to the Commerce Department this week and builders applied for more permits to build single family homes that at any time in the past five years. Government data shows that new home construction has risen 28.6 percent since May of 2012, bolstering hopes of a full-fledged housing recovery. We’ve got plenty more data if you need it.

Conclusion

At the end of the day, your clients, prospects and stakeholders are migrating to an always connected mobile mindset. Just remember that the device they use for phone calls, emails, instant messages and snapshots is not necessarily the device they use to engage with your thought leadership content. If you’ve got something important and substantive to share with your target market, first consider which device they’re going to use to read/view/download it. Is it something that fits into their briefcase—or the back pocket of a tight pair of jeans?

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Tags: Housing starts, building permits, housing recovery, tablet ownership, iPad, Samsung Galaxy Tab, Google Nexus, Kindle Fire

Tablets to Outsell Notebooks in 2013

Tablets to Outsell Notebooks in 2013
Online advertising now 25% of U.S. ad budgets; mobile key to growth

Two important milestones were reached for B2B marketers this week. First, tablets are expected to outship notebooks this year, according to separate report this week from NPD DisplaySearch and Gartner. Second, U.S. marketers will devote at least 25 percent of their budgets to online advertising in 2013.

For the first time ever, researchers predict that tablets will grab more than 50 percent of market share in 2013, up from around 38 percent last year and 26 percent in 2011. Growth in tablet shipments are predicted to rise 64 percent this year from 2012, the report said. Global demand for tablets has opened up the market for a variety of players, both large and small. But, what caught our attention was that growth will not necessarily be driven by the iPad, but by a variety of devices, particularly those with smaller screens. Apple recently curtailed order for iPad parts, although we think the company’s recent stock slide is a correction more than a long-term trend and might signal a buying opportunity for those looking for bargains in the tech sector.

“Tablets have dramatically changed the device landscape for PCs, not so much by cannibalizing PC sales, but by causing PC users to shift consumption to tablets rather than replacing older PCs,” according to Gartner analyst Mikako Kitagawa, in the report. “This transformation was triggered by the availability of low-cost tablets in 2012,” he added.

According to the NPD folks, tablets with screen size between 7.0 and 7.9 inches will garner 45 percent of the market this year--that’s about 108 million units. In contrast, larger 9.7-inch tablets such as the traditional iPad are estimate to get only a 17 percent share of market. The other 38 percent is made up of the wide variety of sizes, ranging from 5.6 inches to 13.3 inches.

"The tablet PC market saw increasing investments in North America in the second half of 2012, from major brands that tested not only new screen sizes and price points, but also unconventional business models to support their efforts," NPD DisplaySearch analyst Richard Shim said in a news release. "In 2013, further investments are expected worldwide, stoking demand to the point that tablet PC shipments will exceed those of notebook PCs."

Online poised for 25 percent share of ad dollars; mobile fueling half the growth

Meanwhile, online advertising will pass a symbolic milestone this year, becoming one out of every four dollars spent by U.S. advertisers, according to new projections from the equity research team at J.P. Morgan. The growth, writes Internet sector analyst Doug Anmuth, is being fueled by advertisers shifting budgets from analog media to follow consumer time spent with digital media, especially Internet connected mobile devices, as well as continuing momentum of social media platforms like Facebook which announced a powerful search feature today to compete with Google, Yelp and LinkedIn.

“As consumer behavior and time spent online rapidly shifts towards mobile, we expect advertising dollars to follow,” Anmuth wrote in a report released to investors late last week, adding: “We are projecting Internet advertising in the U.S. to grow to $43.5 billion in 2013.”

The J.P. Morgan estimate represents a 17.4 percent gain over 2012 online ad spending levels. As a result, online media will be receiving one out of every four dollars in 2013 U.S. ad budgets. That being said, Anmuth estimates about half of that growth will be coming from mobile Web ad spending, and without the mobile component, the uptick in online ad spending would be only about 10 percent from 2012.

Conclusion
Two key tipping points have finally tipped. Do you think the surge in tablet adoption and online/mobile advertising is merely a coincidence? C’mon. You’re too smart for that. Do we really need to tell you where to focus your energies in 2013?

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TAGS: Android, Tablets , iPad, notebooks, Apple, Doug Anmuth, J.P. Morgan, Gartner analyst Mikako Kitagawa, NPD DisplaySearch, Richard Shim, Facebook, Facebook, Google, Yelp, LinkedIn

Tablets Continue to Pull Business Prospects Away from Their Laptops
Learning to embrace the dance of the unfinished


According to IDG Research, one in eight (12%) iPad users already say their device has completely replaced their traditional laptop, while another 54 percent said tablets have partially replaced their laptops. What’s more, nearly half (44%) of marketers believe tablets will have a high or very high impact on laptop use in 2012.

The opinions of marketers on the future of laptops are divided though, says the report. The majority sit somewhere in the middle, with 37 percent suggesting it will have a high impact and 37 percent indicating it will have some impact.

IDG’s analysis concludes that tablets are widely used, and four out of five (79%) iPad owning professionals always use them on the move, is all the evidence marketers should need to target this medium.

Getting comfortable with things being unfinished

Blogger and futurist Seth Godin, had a great post recently about the never-ending state of our work lives. “There's always one more tweet to make, post to write, words with friends move to complete,” he explained. “There's one more bit of email, one more lens you can construct, one more comment you can respond to. If you want to, you can be never finished."


For the marketer, the freelancer and the entrepreneur, Godin observed, it’s not like how we were brought up--trained to finish our homework, our food, our errands and our chores. You’re never really done and you have to embrace that.

Conclusion

We may not have time to smell the roses anymore, but at least take time to notice them. It’ll be Labor Day before you know it. Don’t kick yourself again wondering where the summer has gone.
As Godin said: “Today, we're never finished, and that's okay. It's a dance, not an endless grind.”



Conclusion

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TAGS: Seth Godin, IDG research, tablets, iPad, replacing laptops, B2B marketing

LinkedIn and Tablets Increase Decisions for B2B Marketers

With consumers and small business on one side and ‘tortured” corporate customers on the other, how much longer will users put up with forced updates and interminable boot up time? Google and Apple reinvent computing and computer retailing. Has Mars/Venus gender battle moved to tablets?

Whether or not you think last week’s lofty IPO and post-offering “pop” for professional networking platform LinkedIn signaled a new “tech bubble about to burst,” the head of a large engineering and technology society told me Friday that he was encouraged by the amount of “let’s try and see how it goes” innovation he’s from emerging media, information and technology companies. This ability to innovate, react, evolves and correct early stumbles may be the key to success in the next decade and beyond. Meanwhile, the old guard seems to be drifting further and further back in the rear view mirror.

Hewlett-Packard Co. reduced its 2011 outlook and warned of weaker results in its current quarter in a hastily arranged earnings call last week, a day after an email from CEO, Leo Apotheker to his top brass, warning of tough times became public. News of the memo and the revised outlook sent H-P's shares down 9 percent in early trading on the New York Stock Exchange. HP’s pessimistic outlook is a result of changes the Palo Alto, Calif., company is making in its services business and poor demand for personal computers among consumers. Apotheker said weak PC sales to consumers is an industry-wide problem due in part to the rise of tablet devices such as Apple Inc.'s iPad. Dell, Acer and Sony among others have been whining a similar tune of late.

In response, HP will soon release its own tablet, dubbed the TouchPad, but it will not only have to contend with Apple’s passionately followed products (and social media army), but with Apple’s incredibly successful retail stores—and Google’s lightweight computing devices, which we’ll get to in a minute.

OUR TAKE: We’re not here to predict who’s going to win the table and smart phone wars, but it’s relevant for B2B marketers to know which types of screens, devices and security environment that your target consumers are spending their time when they receive your messages. And that not only includes tablets and smart phones, but LinkedIn-style social networking platforms for professionals and other busy grownups who don’t have hours of free time on their hands and only post when they something relevant to share (or answer).

Gender impact on tablet adoption

If you’re targeting consumers and small business, it’s increasingly likely you’ll to be reaching decision makers not on clunky PC’s, but on open access, easy to use devices –tablets, iPads, smart phones and “smart” notebooks that boot up quickly, and can easily handle rich media, video, apps, downloads and the like. According to a report in today’s New York Times, based on Forrester Research, the majority of tablet owners are male, while the majority of e-readers (such as Barnes’ and Nobles’ Nook Color) are female. Researchers say this has more to do with desire for simplicity (female) or tech power (men) than it does with color, design and actual reading experience although women supposedly want a more contemplative book-like reading experience and men allegedly want a more multimedia, action-oriented experience. Regardless of preference, consumers and business decision-makers are gravitating toward gadgets that are fast, fun, adaptable, easy to carry and easy to fix (often by you, the end user). And these tend to be the devices that don’t block advertising messages as effectively as most corporate spam filters and firewalls. In exchange for this freedom, recipients of your messaging will demand well-thought out creative that’s targeted, relevant and makes full use multimedia.

Meanwhile Google took another swipe at Microsoft last week when it introduced a new kind of computer called a Chromebook, which stores everything online. Google hopes that the devices, which it says will eliminate the need for software updates and hard drive backups and will boot up within eight seconds, will replace PCs running Microsoft’s Windows software in offices and homes around the world.

OUR TAKE: Users are losing patience with endless Windows updates, interminable bootup times and business applications (spreadsheets, presentations, word processing) that work fine, but get over-engineered every 12 months so users have to keep relearning how to use them. Corporate warriors don’t have much choice in the matter, except to covet their spouses, kids and friends’ devices. But, consumers and small business owners DO have a choice, and they’re overwhelmingly going for portability and simplicity over fortress-like security.

However, if your core decision-makers are still in large organizations, then no matter how many fun, easy to work with gadgets they have at home, they’ll still be at the mercy of command and control IT departments—and that means, slow connectivity, limited multimedia and downloading opportunities.

That affects your creative and your ability to get into targets’ sub-conscious. Here, the main objective is simply to get in the door, not to be eye-catching. Corporate spam filters will flag anything they don’t deem plain vanilla. In this environment, it’s best just to play it straight. Stick with bullet points, features and benefits—forget about storytelling and dazzling techno tricks.

Users tired of being tortured

“Whether it be Microsoft or other OS vendors, I think the complexity of managing your computers is really torturing users out there,” Sergey Brin, Google’s co-founder and director of special projects, said recently at the Google I/O developer conference “That’s a flawed model fundamentally. And I think Chromebooks are a new model that doesn’t put the burden of managing your computer on yourself.”

Experts say Google will not have an easy time challenging Microsoft, which dominates the workplace. We think that’s due more to inertia, fear and cozy VAR relationships than it is a result of better products. While Google has bested Microsoft in operating system software for mobile phones, it has taken on Microsoft in the workplace before and failed to budge it, most notably in word processing and spreadsheet software and collaboration tools.

Google says Chromebooks will attract corporate technology buyers because Google automatically updates the Chrome operating system over the Internet and there is no need to back up computers because if they are lost or ruined, all the data exists online. “We’re venturing into a really new model of computing that I don’t think was possible previously, even a few years ago,” Brin purportedly said at Google’s recent user conference, adding that it’s just a much easier way to compute.

Computing in a whole new way

The Chrome operating system, which Google introduced in 2009, does away with desktop software and storing data on a computer. Instead, it is not much more than a browser, and all of a computer user’s information, like documents, photos and e-mail messages, is stored on the Internet, or in “the cloud.” Instead of desktop software like Microsoft Word or iPhoto, people use Web-based software like Google Docs, Microsoft Office 365 or Picasa.

Corporate I.T. departments are not known for quickly adopting flashy new products. However, tablet computers with touch screens, like the iPad, are replacing laptops in some workplaces, so the Chromebook may be late to the game. Microsoft has also seen some softness in its sales for its operating system software. Google’s strategy is to go after businesses and schools first. If students get used to a Web-based operating system, they might request it in their offices later on, and if people use it at work, they might decide to buy one for their homes.

The tagline at the end of Google’s promotional video for Chromebooks? “Ready when you are.” So are we. And so should you, if you’re a smart B2B marketer.

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Blackberry Enters the Tablet Fracas

Battle over corporate mindshare of mobile heats up. Battle over disgruntled talent should drive corporate knowledge capture arena. Hottest areas for talent are hybrid roles that previously didn’t exist.

In case you missed it, Research in Motion, best known for its best-selling Blackberry corporate texting and PDA devices announced Monday that is has entered the tablet computer arena. The Blackberry Playbook will target corporate users (no surprise) and will get a leg up on the Apple iPad in at least one important area for business marketers – it can display Web pages that are created via Adobe Flash oftware, something that iPad currently cannot. Our prediction is this: B2B marketers will look first to reach target customers on whatever device they’re using, regardless of who makes it or how snazzy the features. The battle for the corporate share of the mobile marketplace should be a great one to watch as that will likely determine the flow of ad dollars in the B2B arena. We’re hoping for a long-hard fought battle that will raise the bar for innovation and make mobile advertising and sponsorship, a must-have on everyone’s budget by 2011.

“Take this job and shove it”…OR…”Shove that job, I’ll take it”?

Speaking of the corporate marketplace, as we mentioned last month, there’s lots of work to be done, but most organization lack the confidence to hire full-time, salaried, highly-benefitted workers to do it. Thanks, Rick Telberg, of Bay Street Group Research, who shared his take on a recent Hewitt Associates study that showed workplace tensions are at a 15-year high. Seems even those lucky enough to be employed, are running out of motivation and energy as they do two or three people’s former jobs for the same old compensation (or less).

If you’re in the career advertising or executive recruiting game, you’ll have a perfect storm of opportunity on the horizon as disgruntled workers will be jumping ship in droves as the slow recovery continues and companies will be scrambling like crazy to replace them with the long-term unemployed and underemployed. And guess who else has a great window of opportunity right now? That’s right. Those of you in the CRM, ERP, and knowledge management sector. Why? Because when long-term talented employees leave, they take an awful lot of institutional knowledge with them. It doesn’t matter how tight your confidentiality agreements are (see our Sept. 7 piece "Shot Hurd Round the Tech World").

2010 has clearly reflected a rebound for executive search in the media and marketing business, according to Ed Koller, managing partner of New York-based search firm, Howard Sloan Koller Group who shares his firm's client newsletter with us regularly. While the folks at HSK told us their data was anecdotal more than scientific, they found their clients “continue to report positive movement within their businesses, and candidates are truly excited about the energy and buzz they feel in the market and the possibilities they see ahead.” More than ever, digital roles seem focused on building innovative products, said HSK.

Here are some highlights of HSK’s latest report from the media and marketing recruiting trenches:

Companies continue to reorganize with great frequency to seek efficiencies.
• Much of the hiring is for entirely new roles -- positions which didn't exist previously, and often haven't even been thought of or planned for.
• Hybrid roles -- combinations of multiple disciplines -- are cropping up everywhere.
• Broad-based marketers are in greater demand than ever before.
• Many companies are showing increased emphasis on mobile, social media and apps, requiring a mix of specialized skills.
• Bonuses, perks and raises are still hibernating, and are likely to stay this way for the foreseeable future.
• Many candidates are (shockingly) receiving multiple offers simultaneously. "Buyers" must act quickly.
• Internal promotions and newly created roles are being used by companies as a means for retaining talent.

Our take? With digital apps improving almost daily and highly versatile “corporate decathletes” getting more responsibility instead of the politically correct org-chart-climbers, this slow painful recovery we’re supposedly in may go down as the golden age of Web 2.0 ideas, execution and positive paradigm shifts for B2B marketers.

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Mixed Signals on Economy, Media Consumption Patterns

All mixed up with somewhere to go. The question for marketers is where and when to place their bets.

Internet, Web TV gain. Plus straight talk on tablets.
For those of you fond of marking “tipping points” in the American media psyche, consider adding this one: More Americans now get their news from the Internet than they do from newspapers or radio according to a survey of 2,200 adults nationwide by the Pew Internet and American Life Project. More on this in a minute.

Mixed economic indicators

Consumer spending increased for the fourth consecutive month, the government announced yesterday, and while the 0.5 percent increase was modest at best, it set the table for cautious optimism about Friday’s monthly jobs report. In January, employment reached its highest level in five years, with the measured unemployment rate falling below 10 percent for the first time since August. While myriad factors come into play in our complex economy, economists are ultimately waiting for improvement in the job market to boost both consumer and B2B spending.

That may be a challenge. The Conference Board’s widely watched Consumer Confidence Index®, which had increased in January, declined sharply in February. The CB Index now stands at 46.0 down from 56.5 in January (the Index is pegged to a 1985 benchmark of 100). Not only is a separate CB measure – the “Present Situation” Index at its lowest level in 27 years, but the Board found that almost half (43%) of gainfully employed workers are dissatisfied with their jobs. Further, they don’t see much relief from excessive workloads, reduced perks and paychecks and the pessimism that pervades many workplaces as a trap rather than a road to opportunity. And that’s never good for spending.

Survey: More Americans get news from the Internet than newspapers or radio

Not only are more American’s tuning into the Web as their go-to source of news, but three-fourths say they hear of news via e-mail or updates on social media sites and 61 percent say they get at least some of their news online. Compare that to 54 percent who told Pew Institute researchers they listen to a radio news program and 50 percent who say they read a national or local print newspaper. The Pew survey suggests social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter have made news a more participatory experience than ever before as 37 percent of online users said they've reported news, commented on a story or shared it on sites like Facebook and Twitter, the survey said.

And with all due respect to branding experts, most Americans say they use between two and five online news sources, and 65 percent said they don't have a single favorite Web site for news. That’s pretty telling when you consider that about one-third of the study respondents were OLDER than age 50. Can any medium still compete with the immediacy of the Web? Yep. Good ol’ TV. Television news still outpaces the Internet, with 78 percent of respondents saying they watch local news and 73 percent saying they view a national network or cable news channel like CNN, Fox News or MSNBC.

However, when you compare real-time, undistracted appointment viewing to the rising share of time shifted viewing and multi-tasking viewing, the gap really narrows (see study below):

Online TV viewing climbs

According to Nielsen Company’s online panel data of U.S. visitors to online TV sites in the last 30 days, Americans are consuming more and more video on TV, Web and Mobile according to the recent Nielsen A2/M2 Three Screen Report, but the broader usage patterns suggest that online video is a replacement of DVR use, or used by those who do not have immediate access to TV. TV network content online is used to catch up with programming, and not typically as a replacement for TV viewing, as results from the email survey showed.

Top reasons for watching TV shows on the Web
(ranked by percent of respondents who agree)
• 54% forgot to watch a specific episode when it aired on TV
• 47% are catching up on the current season of programming and missed past episodes
• 33% are catching up on a past season of a program before the next season
• 32% forgot to record a specific episode with their recording device when it aired

Source: The Nielsen Company http://en-us.nielsen.com

US ad spend down nearly 10 percent in 2009

Those were the few bright spots from a Nielsen Co. report on U.S. ad spending, in which overall revenues tanked more than nine percent or $11.6 billion to $117 billion last year. Nielsen says this continues the trend of six straight quarters of declining ad revenue. Bleak to be sure, but at least Q4 2009 ad spending was down just two percent year-over-year, “and that helped soften the full-year decline,” said Terrie Brennan, senior VP for new business development at The Nielsen Company in a company news release. “In fact, most of the top advertisers showed increased spending late in the year. These are encouraging signs for an ad market that’s still trying to stop the bleeding.” Before the fourth quarter rally, many forecasters had expected 2009 to come in closer to 15 percent lower than 2008, and ’08 wasn’t exactly a banner year, either.

A few sectors did show positive year-over-year growth: Cable television grew 14.8 percent and free-standing-insert coupons climbed nearly 12 percent in 2009 versus 2008. Internet advertising remained flat (+0.1%), but Nielsen’s Internet ad expenditures are pulled from the AdRelevance database and account for CPM-based, image-based advertising only. Nielsen data overlooks some pretty big revenue pots such as paid search advertising, text only, paid fee services, performance-based campaigns, sponsorships, barters, in-stream ("pre-rolls") players, messenger applications, partnership advertising, promotions and email campaigns, or house advertising activity.

As expected, most traditional media took big hits:
• Network TV - 9.9%
• Local Newspapers -10.4%
• National Newspapers – 13.7%
• National Magazines - 19.3%
• B2B - 32.7%
• Local Sunday Supplements -44.9%

Digital Shift in Marketing Budgets

According to a recent Econsultancy survey, conducted in association with ExactTarget of more than 1,000 marketers, the shift of marketing budgets from traditional channels to digital channels will continue to rise in 2010. Nearly half (46%) of companies plan to increase their marketing budgets in 2010, says the study, and two thirds (66%) will increase their investments in digital marketing channels. Only 13 percent of companies expect to decrease their budgets overall and only one in 25 (4%) plan to decrease their digital budgets.

Additional budgeting highlights:
• 70 percent of responding companies plan to increase their budgets for off-site social media (i.e. Facebook, Twitter)
• Only 17 percent of respondents are increasing their print media budgets, compared to 41 percent who are decreasing spending.
• More than half of companies plan to increase their budgets for mobile marketing(56%), email marketing (54%), and paid search (51%)

Summary findings can be found here


What Apple and other tablet need to learn about consumers

Finally, kudos to Forbes.com Senior Editor, Lee Gomes, for a poignant piece this week about the Apple iPad’s strengths and shortcomings. If you’re in the business of making – or marketing – technology solutions to consumers and business people, I recommend you read Lee’s piece on any device you choose. Click here

Whether or not you’re an Apple devotee, Gomes points to three key criteria for evaluating any new gadget you’re contemplating: (1) How much mental and physical energy is required to lug it around? (2) What’s the turn-on time? And (3) How do you talk to it?

The devices that continue to get the most usage (and consumer eyeballs) are compact and so light you don’t know you’ve got them on your person; they’re always on and they’re easy to type on or communicate with. In iPad’s case, Gomes says’ Apple’s batting one-for-three.

END

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iPad One Week Later

From tablet to tabloid, have we entered the Splinternet age? Newspaper readership down, even online, and 3 in 4 readers say they won’t pay the toll.

A week has passed since the Apple tablet hype-cycle hit full swing, we thought it would be a good time to catch our breath and take stock of what Steve Jobs’ latest product vision really is…could be….will be… and most importantly, won’t be when it’s officially available to consumers in March.

Let’s start with what the iPad won’t be. I won’t be a magic panacea to save the traditional media industry. Also, it won’t the single, indispensable, all-knowing electronic device that consumers carry around with them 24/7. And the iPad won’t be the amazing unifying technology that ties together all things Web.

“You ain’t strapping this thing to your shorts as you work out,” quipped David Pogue of the New York Times. “Will people really want to hold this device, other than on an airplane, while they watch TV and movies? However, the tablet might be the perfect breakfast table companion. You can control it with one hand and don’t have to fiddle with a keyboard.” Apple haters can also visit Gizmodo for an extensive look at “Things that Suck about the iPad”.

Is Apple’s tablet awesome? Wall Street Journal’s Walter Mossberg likened it to “holding the Internet in your hand,” and gave the tablet kudos for its affordability and generous battery life (see video for more). But, not everyone’s in love with the iPad, especially those whose business models must co-exist with it or fight against it in today’s era of co-opetition.

In a blog post late last week, Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) head, Randall Rothenberg, declared the new Apple tablet a threat to advertising and called it the technology industry’s latest attempt to "semi-privatize" the Web. Forrester Research analyst, Josh Bernoff, observed that all forms of media could become “gated intranets -- with significant implications for marketers, media and agencies."

Naysayers like Rothenberg have a problem with the iPad’s lack of support for Adobe Flash, a key technology for online display advertising. Many marketers and ad executives also cited the iPad's lack of Flash as a drawback. But, they welcomed the device's larger screen size which many think will kick start the long awaited explosion of mobile marketing. In case you missed it, Online Media Daily’s Mark Walsh provided a useful lens on how the iPad’s introduction will impact marketers and ad agency honchos.

While IAB’s Rothenberg argues for a "supply chain détent" in which device makers join together to adopt consistent standards that allow the advertising and marketing to flourish. Walsh opines that the problem with the Internet been too much ad inventory, not too little. Amen to that.

Blogger, David Koretz finds it hypocritical that “the proposed solution to publishers invading consumers' privacy is to have those very same publishers advertise to them about how to protect it.” Koretz thinks it’s ridiculous for publishers – who profit by selling user attention and user information -- to be tasked with protecting the privacy of those very same users.”

Forrester Research’s Bernoff, thinks new technologies like the iPad are dividing, rather than unifying the web: “each new device has its own ad networks, format, and technology. Each new social site has its login and many hide content from search engines.”

Bernoff and other observers lament that what historically made the Web (and Web marketing) magic was the fact that everything was in a compatible format. Using Any browser, any computer, any connection, you see pretty much the same thing. As Bernoff notes: “Now with iPhones, Androids, Kindles, Tablets, and TVs connecting to the Web, that's not true. Your site may not work right on these devices, especially if it includes flash or assumes mouse-based navigation. Apps that work on the iPhone don't work on the Android. Widgets for FiOS TV don't work anywhere else. Meanwhile, more and more of the interesting stuff on the Web is hidden behind a login and password. Major newspapers want to put more and more of their content behind a pay (or registered user) wall and even Facebook applications will not work anywhere else and Google can't search it.”

Blogger, Steve Woodruff, observed that the time it takes to go from “thought to output to audience engagement is so short now with new media development tools, that it makes sense to create ‘splintered’ media that will more optimally work for different audiences and platforms.”
A recent post from Dan Millbank pointed out that having one venue or medium for content never made any sense. “Think about watching TV on one channel or having to use an AT&T telephone for all communication,” wrote Millbank. “That's pretty much the way it was only 20 years ago. Options are good, freedom of choice is good. It's hard on publishers, but hey, get off your butts and publish to the channels if you want to be seen.”

Technology marketers should take seriously consumers like “Christopher” who commented on Bernoff’s “Splinternet” piece that “the threat of consumers voting with their dollar for ‘splinternet’-type devices/platforms is real. The proprietary platforms will be left behind as the collective mind and manpower of the incredibly fruitful open-source community continue to make generational leaps in tech and UI improvement. I really want a Kindle, but will probably go for the Sony Daily Edition reader because it's more open and plays well with others. I have to keep in mind that my dollars are votes for what I believe in. I hope others out there do that, too.”

A respondent named Andre fired a warning shot at advertisers and media owners in the wake of the Apple tablet’s introduction: “If content producers and advertisers think that consumers are going to download and/or install whatever is required to view their content, please think again. It will not happen. And even if it did, it will only create an unstable computing environment for users when all these apps start conflicting with one another.”

“Standards are great, but they can't make a 3-inch iPhone behave like a 12-inch computer,” quipped Bernoff. “Marketers are going to be living in many different interactive worlds. Standards will help, but when Apple, Facebook, and Google own platforms, you have to live in their environments if you like the audiences that use those platforms.”

Daily newspaper reading down to two in five adults, even online

Just as more and more daily newspapers are poised to follow Wall Street Journal, Financial Times and the New York Times into the paid content arena, a new Adweek Media/Harris Poll found that just two in five U.S. adults (43%) say they read a daily newspaper, either online or in print almost every day. Just over seven in ten Americans (72%) say they read one at least once a week while 81 percent read a daily newspaper at least once a month. One in ten adults (10%) say they never read a daily newspaper. Scary stuff. Harris survey is based on responses of 2,136 U.S. adults surveyed online between December 14 and 16, 2009 by Harris Interactive

One reason for the dying of the daily newspaper, says the report, is the aging of the daily readership. Almost two-thirds of those aged 55 and older say they still read a daily newspaper almost every day. The younger one is, however, the less often they read newspapers. But less than one quarter of those aged 18-34 say they read a newspaper almost every day while 17% in this age group say they never read a daily newspaper.

Declining readership habits on top of a prolonged advertising slump has pushed many newspapers to explore charging readers for all or some of their articles online. This model probably won’t fly as 77 percent of online adults said they would not be willing to pay anything to read a newspaper's content online. While some are willing to pay, only five percent would pay more than $10 a month.

We’re clearly in a time-shifting, 4-screen media environment (TV, Web, Mobile and Tablet) in which the reader/consumer/gamer is engaging with your offering (and brand) on their terms -- not yours. If you’re good, relevant and deliver on what you promise, then you’ll continue to make money and retain customers regardless of the delivery platform. If not, you’ll be punished at high speed and on multiple fronts.

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