How to pay for content on tablet pc’s

With the anticipated launch of the Apple tablet later this week speculation about the look and feel about the device is still filling tech-blogs across the Globe. Now that the launch is likely the discussion is moving to the possible implications of the tablet PC. Having changed an industry with the iPhone commentators have started to share ideas on how the new device could change the publishing industry. Forbes is one of the first to comment on the possible implications:

Fast forward to when the Apple tablet is released (perhaps March). Newspaper, magazine and book publishers and movie studio execs are likely shaking in their plush leather seats: the tablet, which is expected to be unveiled on January 27th, could allow Jobs to control the distribution of films and anything that is printed on paper today to their demise and his gain. via Media Moguls Beware of Steve Jobs’ Tablet « Billions – Forbes.com.

The Wall Street Journal has done an analysis that focuses on possible business-models for the tablet. Pay per article models will have an impact on how photography, video and illustrations are licensed. Perhaps there will be opportunities for content creators to license directly to readers like in the iTunes model. Whatever the model will be there will be a number of new opportunities for those following the developments closely. Finding ways to license content easily and quickly may prove to be key in getting collections on the growing number of platforms effectively.

Mr. Jobs has a longstanding strategy of devising new ways to access and pay for quality content, instead of reinventing the content. Apple’s iTunes Store, for instance, became the world’s largest music retailer partly by making it easy for people to buy music, most of it from major record labels, by the song instead of by the album. Its digital-media receiver Apple TV was also designed so people can buy and rent movies and television shows. Mr. Jobs is “supportive of the old guard, and [he] looks to help them by giving them new forms of distribution,” says a person who has worked with the CEO. “What drives all of these changes is technology, and Apple has an ability to influence that.”  via With Tablet, Apple Sees New Money in Old Media – WSJ.com