View From the Phlipside – iPad

My name is Jay Phillippi and I’ve spent my life in and around the media. TV, radio, the movies and more. I love ’em and I hate ’em and I always have an opinion. Call this the View From the Phlipside.

Let’s call this knowing when to stick with a winning hand. The build up to the release of Apple’s iPad was so enormous that we really shouldn’t have been surprised when people immediately began to criticize the device when it was finally revealed. There was no way that any device could have been as wonderful as some people’s expectations. Some clever Melvins out there even tried to make a big deal out of the name claiming that it brought to mind certain female products. The thought never crossed my mind till they brought it up. It’s still not the first thing I think of when I hear the name. For me you say iPad and I think a pad of paper. You know, like a tablet.

I’m willing to bet that Apple wasn’t overly worried either. First of all because they go through this every single time. I mean, don’t take this the wrong way all you Apple fans out there but you can be a little unrealistic. By which I mean you can sometimes be frothing at the mouth raving lunatics when it comes to your beloved brand name. Every new Apple device is going to be the game changing, world shaking, earth moving most fabulous thing that has ever happened. When it isn’t, and it never is, there is a brief moment of gnashing of teeth and rending of garment. Even the name thing isn’t new. When they first debutted the iPod there were plenty of jokes and doubters. Apple knows you and knows not to worry about it.

What they do is just plow ahead. In the case of the iPad they’ve decided to go back to what’s worked before. The real question about the tablet computer is whether anyone will really go for it. They’ve been tried before and flopped. What’s Apple’s strategy to change that trend? Go back to school. It was the school strategy, putting Apple computers in as many schools as possible that raised up a large portion of the current Apple generation. So now they are making deals with textbook publishers to create textbooks that can be used on iPads. Now kids won’t have to carry backpacks filled with dumpster loads of books. Just their Apple iPad with all the books downloaded on it. Kids will have be comfortable with iPads and will want their own at home. At home they’ll show their parents how cool and useful they are. Just that quickly you create the market you need. By the time they’re in high school these kids won’t be able to imagine a world without their beloved iPad. Steve Jobs can’t hear the weeping and wailing. It’s being drowned out by the sound of the cash register.

Call that the View From the Phlipside.

“The View From the Phlipside” airs on WRFA-LP Jamestown NY. You can listen to WRFA online HERE
Copyright – Jay Phillippi 2010