Well, part of me is relieved that I won’t have to brave the fanboy line anytime soon. That said, the consumer in me might be on board one or two iterations down the line. Apple did a pretty good job against my end-user wish list, but I’m not seeing anything earth-shattering from a media perspective. 

Book publishers seem to have a fair amount to be happy about – namely better revenue than they currently enjoy from Amazon, at least. 

And The New York Times seems to be totally on board (despite the whole no-flash-video thing!). From what I can tell, they’ve struck a good balance between digital and physical consumption of the newspaper, but I don’t see the iPad saving newspapers anytime soon – failing due to both audience mass and a lack of imagination with regard to ad units. I think this stems from the fact that everyone has concentrated only on the audience side of the revenue equation. While I agree that the audience experience comes first, it seems to me that for a publication, which for the first time has seen more revenue come from sales than advertising (and, trust me, that’s not a result of circulation growth or subscription price!), there would be much more emphasis on demonstrating the value that the iPad edition has for advertisers. I was surprised that there didn’t seem to be a magazine demo yesterday at all.

Today, I just don’t view it as a legitimate fourth screen – insofar as it only provides another route into two existing media (Internet, and to a much lesser degree, TV). It might put another nail into the WAP coffin, but it doesn’t displace SMS and is not a legitimate contender for what print dollars still remain out there. At this point, all it promises to do is reproduce print ads in all of their 2-D glory in about a third of the space – there’s no way I’m going to pay extra for that or the limited incremental circulation this will represent over the next two years. Where’s the interactivity? Where are the parameters for rich executions? Where’s my measurement data?

There’s potential (beyond super-absorbency – sorry, had to do it) in the iPad to be sure, but it’s not there yet, and I can only hope that it will be a catalyst for things to come.

I’ve been reading so much about the (presumably) soon-to-be-announced (tomorrow!) Apple tablet, that I (decidedly NOT a fanboy) am actually kind of excited. I do love this pre-release hype. It makes the Apple tablet out to be some sort of gadget geek dream receptacle. It’s easy to get caught up in the excitement, but the realistic, logical side of my brain keeps reminding me that the long list of as-yet-unfounded “leaked details” reads more like the wish list of today’s über nerd.

I’ve heard that it is going to change TV viewership. I’ve heard that it will change newspaper readership. I’ve heard that it will be $1,000.00. I’ve heard that it will be substantially less than $1,000. It’s going to crush Kindle! Jobs has been “in discussion with Conde Nast”! It’s going to be an amazing gaming platform! It’s going to have facial recognition capabilities! It will be thin! It will Skype! It will have a massive touch screen keyboard!

Yeah, right. So, as long as we’re adding our wants to this thing, here’s my list:

1. I really do want to read magazines on it. I want to subscribe to them through iTunes. I want some of the pictures to actually be video. I want to flip through pages just like the real thing (like in that Sports Illustrated demo released a number of weeks ago). I want someone to get me the ad specs ASAP. I want built-in measurement of ad effectiveness.
2. I want the battery to last longer than 8 hours.
3. I want AR software (and a webcam) built in.
4. I want expandable memory (SD card slot, please. Just like on my non-iPhone, thank you very much).
5. I want it to be under $500.

If it can do everything above PLUS my list, then I’ll be in line at the Apple store on Thursday morning to get my fourth screen. (I’m a strong believer in redundancy, and actually pretty opposed to total convergence. I’m sorry, but until someone bests Windows phone on Office integration, I’ll happily run around with at least two screens!)

Seriously, though, if this can somehow help the print publishing industry, tell HR that I’m taking a personal day.

A horrific earthquake struck Haiti Tuesday. Millions of miles away professionals are helping rebuild the devastated country without ever leaving their office chairs; students from around the globe have had a hand in the disaster relief while sitting in their lecture halls and dorm rooms.

In less than two days, a host of organizations including the American Red Cross has raised more than $4 million to aid the devastated country, thanks to $10 donations sent from individuals around the world via a simple text message.

Mobile giving makes collecting donations from around the globe faster and easier than ever. Texting a word to a short code (in this case, “Haiti” to 90999) sends a donation of a predetermined amount, which then shows up on your next cell phone bill. It’s that simple.

And with such a basic call-to-action, getting the word out is as easy as updating your Facebook status or posting to your Twitter account.

The possibilities of mobile giving stretch far beyond raising fast funds for disaster relief. Here at T3, we’re fortunate enough to be gaining firsthand experience in the mobile giving arena alongside Mobile Loaves & Fishes, an incredible organization that provides food, clothing and dignity to the homeless. By texting “MLF” to 20222, you can donate $5 to help keep people fed and off the streets.

Whether it’s enabling people to act when tragedy strikes miles away or helping a homeless person during the morning commute to work, the power of mobile giving is about empowering people to act in the moment when they’re inspired to support a cause.