Prince McLeanThe gathering, as reported by New York magazine, was booked at Pranna, a cellar basement restaurant featuring a southeast Asian menu. The restaurant wasn't tipped off that Jobs himself would be in attendance.
The Apple executive reportedly arrived wearing a “a very funny hat — a big top hat kind of thing,†and ordered penne pasta with a mango lassi to drink, sending the staff scrambling to accommodate his unusual request. Jobs sat at the head of the table of Times executives as he demonstrated the iPad's functionality to executives in an "intimate, family-style gathering."
While newspaper executives are reportedly wary of entering into an exclusive deal that they fear might install Apple as the content broker of print media in the same model as iTunes' music and video businesses, they're also facing tough times monetizing their content as the Internet eats away at their display ad model.
After decades of selling their own ad space in print, they're now facing the problem of trying to make money on the web, where Google dominates ad sales and advertising space is effectively in infinite supply, and therefore worth very little. Jobs is pitching iTunes' paid downloads model to print and broadcast media companies with the iPad, an idea they like but also fear, apparently much more so than the alternative of Google's virtual monopoly on online ads.
Jobs faced similar fears in hammering out deals with music and movie executives, which balked at the company's plans to sell their content without ads at relatively low prices to an audience millions of iTunes users.
Music labels' own digital plans all failed until they teamed up with Apple in the new iTunes Store. Immediately after the company saved their future however, they began complaining about the control Apple exercised over prices and marketing, demanding that users buy songs only in albums and lobbying for "variable pricing" that would give the label suits the power to charge more for new acts and threaten their own talent with cheap pricing that would devalue their work if they didn't play the labels' game.
Movie studios similarly dragged their heels in joining the iTunes Store, with early adopters limiting the number of movies they made available and worrying about the prospect of digital downloads and then rentals hurting their lucrative DVD sales. Jobs used his influence at Disney to help pave the way for broader adoption of iTunes by other studios, but it still took years to win the movie executives over.
In print media, Jobs is now working to convince publishers to embrace digital distribution, particularly for the new larger format iPad, although Jobs also reportedly said "he likes to hold the Sunday edition in his hands."
Jobs has also brokered deals with booksellers and continues to talk with print and broadcast publishers about getting their content in iTunes and customized for use with the iPad. Clayton Morris of Fox News just tweeted today that Jobs had made an appearance at his company: "It's not everyday you walk into work and see Steve Jobs standing there."
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162 Comments
First off: The New York Times is broke and has been for quite some time.
It continues to exist because Carlos Slims, the Mexican billionaire, continues it's existence at his cost.
Then, on January 19, 2009, the financially-troubled Times Company announced that it had accepted a $250 million loan from Slim.[11] While the loan will help ease the company's cash flow problems, it does not come close to eliminating the Times Company's $1.1 billion debt.[11] The company's continuing financial problems and Slim's ongoing interest in its work, as evidenced by his two interventions in the course of five months, has led to speculation that he might be contemplating an outright takeover of the Times Company.[12] A spokesman for Slim told reporters in January 2009 that the Times loan was an investment opportunity "that makes financial sense."[13]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlos_Slim
My point is a niche product isn't going to help the Times all that much, they are bleeding cash from all angles. People in general are satisfied with the free content online that just about equals what the Times produces.
What people are willing to pay for is information that really gets them ahead and not similarly offered online from numerous sources.
Take textbooks for instance, it's a expensive cost, but the information in it is going to change a persons life and income for the better.If the NY Times was offered for FREE to the iPad, with the income coming from display ads, perhaps it would work.
I think Steve is having trouble convincing the papers to get on board, but once one does, they all will as to have a voice on the platform.
reminds me of Batman "The Dark Knight" , when the Joker walks into the gathering of criminals and shoves a pencil into some guys head as a magic trick. Not trying to paint Steve in a bad light, just a random thought that popped into my head as I read this article.
Oh, and in case anyone is interested (it's non alcoholic ) But definitely a drink that could use a 2 to 3 ounces of vodka imo :
Mango Lassi Recipe:
INGREDIENTS
1 cup plain yogurt
1/2 cup milk
1 cup chopped mango (peeled and stone removed)
4 teaspoons sugar, to taste
A dash of ground cardamom (optional)
METHOD
Put mango, yogurt, milk, sugar and cardamom into a blender and blend for 2 minutes, then pour into individual glasses, and serve. Can sprinkle with a little cardamom.
The lassi can be kept refrigerated for up to 24 hours.
Makes about 2 cups.
...1 cup chopped mango...
Mango's give one the hershey squirts, but the yogurt and milk should counter that.
Yes, we go that low here.
Nice job