Rick Young's Blog

What the iPad means for video producers

February 01, 2010

Posted by: Rick Young

It was at least 6 or 7 years ago and I was having having a conversation with the manager of one of the Apple resellers in London. The iPod was red hot at the time, rapidly redefining Apple from being a computer company to a consumer manufacturer that did a whole lot more than sell expensive computers.

The manager said to me that he felt the iPod had a long way to go, loads of life left in the product, and this was going to be with us a long time.

My reply was "I don't get it. It plays music. Where's it going to go from here."

Well the fact is the iPod had more than a long life in front of it - it developed and grew into many more iPod models, the iPhone and now the iPad. Obviously these later devices do a lot more than just play music.

My lack of vision was clouded by the fact that I was locked into seeing the iPod as a music player only and not as a multifunction device which has made so much more possible.

Now with Apple's latest announcement, the iPad, I ponder about what this means to those who make video. This time I have no doubt that this new product is going to be a game changer, and will influence a generation as the iPod and iPhone have done (and are both still doing).

One word comes to mind when I think of this new device and this word is distribution.

The clear cut difference between independent producers trying to get their work out there, and media giants who pump their content out 24 hours every day, is distribution.

Of course channels such as Vimeo and YouTube have made it possible to make one's work available but available isn't good enough. We want the world to know our work is there, be able to access it easily, and we also want to make money out of it.

Look at what the iPod has done for music distribution. Obviously the big players have seized this as a means to sell and distribute content and so have smaller, less well-funded producers. Sell your content through iTunes and if you have a hit you have cracked the distribution blockage. You can get your product to market and make money from it.

So it will be with the iPad. This is obviously geared to be a video viewing device, as well as eBook reader, internet device, notepad and countless other functions which will become obvious once this is available.

Many many moons ago when the Video iPod first became available I excitedly wrote that this heralds a new age of video distribution and will change the way we view our content.

Of course watching video on the iPod or iPhone is good - and there is content available, however, it isn't exactly the way most people watch video content. Some but only some.

My prediction is the iPad will become largely a viewing device for video content, be it Hollywood blockbusters, documentaries, education or small scale independent productions. Tie this in with iTunes and we can charge for content and if people want it they will pay for it.

I'm eating my words from years ago with my lacklustre opinion of the future of the iPod. My view of the iPad is the opposite to my iPod opinion. This thing is going to be big for many years to come.