So here’s another post about Steve Jobs, since he’s been all over the media since his passing last night. Jobs has had a definite influence on my life; he ran companies that made things that I wanted to have. Badly.
I’ve been a firm supporter of Apple’s products since I first set my hands on an Apple II as a first grader back in 1986. My family’s Mac SE is still fully functioning. I’ve picked up my fair share of nostalgic Apple products, many of which I saved from a painful demise at the recycling yard to being used for my various projects. To this day, I’m still trying to track down a complete NeXT system. I spend a good part of my day working on a modern Mac and my iPod is always on me. I may forget to bring my wallet, but I always have my iPod.
The products that Apple has produced under Jobs have definitely changed the consumer electronics landscape time and time again, but in recent years Jobs led the release of the iPad, a device that makes an impact on the comics industry.
Seeing how poorly the music and film industries have done in the digital age, the release of the iPad pushed comic book publishers into the modern era. Now that there is feasibly a way to enjoy reading comics digitally (lets face it…reading comics on screen really isn’t that much fun), they’ve gotten on the iPad/digital comics with making sure that their content is accessible–in a way that they can monetize–and easy for their audience.
Say you still haven’t gotten that first issue of the new Hawk and Dove series, now a month later. You can just purchase it online. Not only current titles, but a bunch of stuff from the back catalog. This is great for the reader, but what about your local comic shop?
Now that consumers have a new way to get their comics, what happens to the brick and mortar location? If they don’t want to wind up like Borders, they’re going to have to rethink their strategy.
But it certainly helps the publisher’s bottom line, as they’ve made their inventory available to everyone. Across the board, digital sales are up, no doubt thanks to people wanting an iPad.
A Steve Jobs helmed Apple created a device that revolutionized how we use content, just like how the Apple II brought computers into the home and school, and how Macs made everything easier on the computer, and how the iPod changed how we listened music, and how the iPhone made cell phones exactly like the stuff that Captain Kirk used.
So Steve did it again.
Ridiculously Awesome 