Thank you, iPad, for helping a recession-battered world welcome 2010 with howling laughter.

Seldom does the world collectively experience a disappointment so great, it is humorous. Then again, as we sober up from the punchline, we begin to wonder if there is more to the iPad than a flub. Apple is, after all, the industry game-changer. It wouldn’t be wise not to watch closely.

The iPad could shift the rules of advertising, graphic design, blogging, journalism & publishing from right beneath your feet.

Turns out the iPad could shift the rules of advertising, graphic design, blogging, journalism & publishing from right beneath your feet.

Iconic design house, Pentagram, has published a great trend-watch article, “5 Ways the iPad will Change Magazine Design“. Indeed, the iPad will, as an e-reader (as opposed to a half-assed excuse of a smart-phone-laptop hybrid) may revolutionize reading itself.

Magazine content, online and in print, will be influenced by the screen, interface, even processing capabilities of the iPad. Think this is an exaggeration? Just look at how graphic design both on- and off-line has been influence by the mouse and resolution for the past decade:

• Images got smaller and took the form of pop-up slide shows
• Content structure became dominated by overviews, excerpts and short articles while longer pieces sit on a lower hierarchy behind “more” tags or further into the heart of the publication.
• Video content flourishes and demands integration with text and still (often with awkward results).
• Advertising copy and images became miniaturized to integrate into layouts.
• The miscellaneous (archives, categories, similar posts, about-the-authors) became necessary browsing tools, equivalent to running one’s fingers through the pages of a magazine.

And all of the above will be changed, again, with the iPad. People will spend considerably more time, well, reading, than on a laptop or a computer. Trends that came about to adapt to people’s shrinking attention spans and patience will be, again,transformed. The screen real estate also changes when scrolling is eliminated or re-integrated into user interaction, or when reading patterns change.

Come to think about it … the iPad has even influenced the market as we know it before it’s release.

And of course, the iPad might just be the nail in print’s drawn-out descent into it’s coffin – with an iPad on every coffee table, where will print stand?

the iPad might just be the nail in print’s drawn-out descent into it’s coffin

But while the iPad’s potential is formidable, it must first, like every product, be purchased. And even as the kind of consumer who’s willing to part with a little more cheddar for a little more shiny, I must say that the iPad just won’t cut it. Lack of multi-tasking, limited processing power and no usb at that price tag? It’s almost vulgar.

Hopefully, all that speculation about Apple having something more up their sleeves is right…

EDIT: Haha,  Stanford does not heart the iPad.