What does the release of the iPad mean?

iPad (Courtesy of Apple)After weeks, months, and years of speculation, Apple unveiled its long awaited tablet-pad-thing-a-ma-app. It’s as lovely as we’ve come to expect from Apple design. We’ll be convening with our team to get their thoughts on the impact the iPad will have on the various industries who will be touched by its technology; from publishers to media companies, to mobile players and advertisers.  Most of all, the question on everyone’s mind, has Apple created something that consumers want–and as our President, John Ross is fond of asking what problems does the iPad solve for consumers? Another words–is this Apple marketing and hype at its best, or is the iPad a game changer?

Here is a round up of news coverage on the topic.

From the WSJ: Steve Jobs reveals new iPad device, Read here.

From the WSJ: Apple device portends rewrite for publishers, Read here.

WSJ Slideshow: See photos here

From AllthingsD: The iPad is a multi-media device. So where’s the media? Read here.

From AllthingsD: Apple improves its multi-touch and gesture capabilities Read here.

From Wired: Live coverage of iPad unveiling Read here.

See what others are saying; Live Twitter feed, Click here.

From Apple.com, video on the device, Watch here.

CES 2009: Famed blogger on ’09 trends

I caught up with All Things D and bigwig industry reporter Kara Swisher at CES today. Swisher moderated a panel called “What will they think of next, Consumer Technology in 2025” that featured panelists including VPs from Lenovo, Intel, and Qualcomm. After the panel and a little “Where-in-the-world-is-Yahoo” guilty-pleasure chatter* between us, Swisher shared a few thoughts on trends in online and emerging media for the coming year–and if she thinks there is a fail-safe place for advertisers to hedge their sacred bets this year:

Other than this insight from Swisher, the main takeaways from the panelists was four-fold:

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