Apple and Publishers Get Ready for iPad Launch

Apple seems to be scrambling to get content for the iPad ready to go for launch day. At the same time, publishers have been preparing books and other content. Several publishers should have books available on day one, or soon thereafter. But some, like Random House, are holding out according to reports that have those publishers worried that book prices may follow iPhone app prices into the bargain basement range.
Publications like the Wall Street Journal may be preparing subscription services. Reports are that the WSJ will be available on the iPad for $18/month.
Wired magazine has been reportedly testing an iPad version and also selling ads to fill it. Some magazines may be selling per-issue at full price on the iPad, while others will sell at a discounted level. Some will have advertising and some won’t — at least to start.
It will be interesting to see which publications do well on the device, and which fail to gain an audience. It will also be interesting to see how they do against iPad and online-only publications that do no need to also support a print version. An digital-only publication theoretically costs the same to produce whether there are a thousand subscribers or a million.
On the video side, CBS has been reportedly testing our a Flash-less version of its Web site that should work on the iPad. The video would use HTML5 for playback, rather than the Flash plug-in.
And on the App side, there are reports of developers getting their games and other apps ready for iPad launch day. Some developers have had access to iPads for testing.
In Mac news, Adobe seems poised to release its Creative Suite 5, which would include new versions of software such as Photoshop, Flash, Illustrator and Acrobat. The date has been set for April 12. But lest you think this news doesn’t somehow involve the iPhone, the new version of Flash is supposed to allow Flash developers to make native apps for the iPhone and iPod Touch. This would be different than Flash on the Web. The apps would simply appear as normal apps. Many apps are already developed in alternative environments from the standard Apple Xcode environment. Adobe even lists some Flash-created apps on its Web site and blogs.
Apple lost one of its board members this last week when Jerome B. York died of a brain aneurysm. York had been on Apple’s board since 1997. During his career, York also served as CFO of Chrysler and CFO of IBM.