I think we’re all used to it now. The whole Steve-Jobs-is-out-of-his-mind line. And yet here we are, each owning at least one of his farfetched products. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from all of this, it’s that I’ll never listen to anything Michael Dell says ever again.

I was browsing through Facebook when I came across a link that was posted by a former officemate. It read “WSJ on iPad for $17.99 a month, magazines to be at or near newsstand prices?”. The former publisher in me had to stop what I was doing and read.

Conversely, magazines appear set to offer weekly or monthly editions out of the gate, not annual subscriptions. Sources told the WSJ that the April issue of Hearst’s Esquire magazine (no stranger to new media) will arrive in downloadable format without advertisements for $2.99, $2 less than the newsstand price, and will include five music videos (each containing the phrase “somewhere in Mississippi,” oddly enough) to take advantage of the device’s multimedia capabilities. On the other hand, a full iPad issue of Men’s Health with match the glossy’s $4.99 price. Of course, as we heard earlier, publishers will be experimenting with advertising and pricing models to see what works so expect things to be fluid for quite some time after the April 3rd launch.

Source

Now what do I think about all of this? Bullshit.

Before I get into why I say that, I first want to enumerate why I would consider getting an Ipad.

1. I want more multimedia content. If I come across a newspaper site, I don’t want to just read about it. I want to hear and watch audio and video clips.
2. Instead of lugging around a laptop on coffee shop run, it makes sense to have something as thin and light to lug around. Imagine meeting a potential client with something like the Ipad in tow. Like they say, sometimes it’s the first impression that counts the most.
3. Though it wasn’t built primarily for this purpose, I’d like to see electronic versions classic board games. Monopoly, Cluedo, you name it, it should be there.
4. Coolness Factor is definitely a 10. Nuff’ said.

Going back to my rant earlier, since we now live in the age of not having to purchase CDs and DVDs, isn’t everything supposed to be cheaper? Look at Steam and how they’re able to sell legit software for loose change. Though it was clear from the very beginning that the Ipad was meant to go against the Kindle indirectly, unreasonably priced downloadable content isn’t going to help the former.

Sure, there are much more daily costs involved in putting out a daily or monthly medium, but putting the burden on the consumer? That’s the worst mistake a business can ever make.

For one, Americans are already used to making transactions online. Whether it be to pounce on that “Today Only” sale from Bestbuy.com, or to have the week’s bag of groceries get delivered to their doorstep, the cons of making a purchase online is now close to none.

Filipinos on the other hand, are more accustomed to buying their stuff in person. They do it not only because of apprehensions on shopping online, but they would just rather have their stuff right away. The courier services (or lack of) do nothing to help the present situation.

One thing I learned on a trip I made to the US in June of 2003 — is that you don’t even need to shop online to benefit from a little email marketing.

Being the movie buff that I am, I used to mark my calendar for DVD release dates. During the months I was there, the big releases were the Superbit Version of Spiderman 2 (We didn’t have Bluray yet back then), as well as the Back to the Future Trilogy DVD set. Though there were set release dates for both titles, I wanted to make sure that I found out just in case they were released in advance. Hence my trip to Best Buy’s website to sign up for an email alert. Though I got the DVDs even without waiting for the emails to arrive (as I frequented Best Buy every chance I got while I was there). The bottom line is, I got an update for what I had signed up for.

I wish I had kept a copy of that particular email, as it’s a perfect example of how you can benefit from signing up to receive an online retailer’s emails. If you signed up to receive alerts and start feeling like you’re getting blasted with too much “spam”, look for a preference settings page to adjust the frequency. If not, the ol’ unsubscribe button is always there.

Before you hit it though, always remember that not everything you receive is a sales pitch. There’s a little bit of service in there, so always keep an eye out for it.

Unlike in the US, the online city guide landscape is very limited in the Philippines. Clickthecity.com was pretty much the only choice you had if you wanted a comprehensive city guide. Even then, people only visited the site for the TV and movie schedules (yup, that’s really it).

It was sometime last year when Summit and NMI decided to join the city guide wars with Spot.ph. Needless to say, it was a complete mess. Back then, there was already a clear disconnect between the site and (objectively speaking) the magazine arm of one of the most prestigious print companies in the country. The site clearly didn’t enjoy the same quality control all Summit magazines were known for.

As I write this, both Spot.ph and ClicktheCity.com are undergoing various levels of redesign, reformatting, or whatever you want to call it. Hence leaving me with too many things to write about (and thus more reasons for you to come back here).

All of this just made me think — more than the occasional “blog-about-this-blog-about-that” event, online newspaper, or social networking site, are Filipinos ready to leave everything traditional and go online?