The iPad – the device you never knew you wanted until it existed. Indeed it’s wonderful and it is being hailed variously as the saviour of the publishing industry and the entertainment device of the future, but here in Ireland it will fail to make waves.
The reason why the iPad will be as useless as teats on a bull to us Irish is down to its tie-in with the App Store, that which is both its genius and its downfall.
As Apple CEO Steve Jobs flicked, wiped and pinched his way through the cute Pixar flick Up as well as perusing TV series Modern Families on a featherweight 9.7-inch touchscreen device, I couldn’t help but think that this may never be possible in Ireland.
We cannot revolutionise the way we watch movies and TV shows and consume multimedia content in general when we are shut out from the best parts of the iTunes Store.
This is February 2010, and as of yet the Irish iTunes Store only has music downloads, music videos and iTunes University but no movies and no television series. We are not alone: licensing rights for content varies in different regions but UK residents can download movies as can several countries in the Euro zone.
Apple may be tackling the publishing industry with its answer to the Kindle but this alone isn’t good enough when our choices are so restricted and if content is king then the version sold in the Republic will be pauper rather than prince.
By Marie Boran
Pictured: The Apple iPad in Ireland will be devoid of movies and TV shows
