Why the iPad SDK should be downloaded at every newspaper … like now!

At first I cringed when Jobs was doing his demo of Safari — particularly the parts where he went to the NY Times and Time mag websites, and those big honkin’ “Adobe Flash not installed” warnings came up. How on earth could a device as supposedly revolutionary as the iPad not allow you to view what has become one of the most common features of the web ecosystem of today? Insanity!

Then, about 30 minutes later, we got to see the NY Times app demo. Suddenly, it all started to gel. The ideas they were able to cook up for viewing the Times with a touchscreen display (all done in 3 weeks, but a small handful of people) were breathtaking. Despite what the Apple folks may say, this isn’t a device well suited to browsing the web. But it may just be the best platform to give fans of the printed newspaper an equivalent digital experience.

The question is: Will the publishing industry see it that way? It’ll take an awful lot of developer muscle to start cranking out iPad versions of newspapers and magazines and books — the kind of truly interactive experience the NY Times previewed. And for a device that is far from a sure thing, it’s a gamble. But given the way our chips are stacking up lately, better to go all-in on something like this than to piss away penny antes on less daring approaches.

Read More