LOS ANGELES (AP) — If Bob Iger’s appearance at Apple inc.’s splashy unveiling of the iPad tablet computer two weeks ago didn’t clue you in, on Tuesday he made his affinity for the new device clear.
The chief executive of The Walt Disney co. said Tuesday the iPad was a “game changer” that could transform how media companies deliver content to consumers.
He ad-libbed on several products that Disney would potentially develop for the iPad: a souped-up version of the ESPN ScoreCenter iPhone application, an interactive children’s book format, and applications for watching ABC News and the drama “Lost.”
QUESTION: If you could give us more details on what you think ABC might be offering on the iPad and is this a step in the direction of retailing or wholesaling your cable and broadcast networks online, that would be helpful.
RESPONSE: “We find that the iPad has a lot of potential. We think it’s a really compelling device. We think it could be a game changer in terms of enabling us to create essentially new forms of content.”
“We’ve put in the marketplace a digi-books product through our Disney publishing group just recently. We were developing it primarily for the computer screen and we started developing it for iTunes, I should say for the iPhone/iTouch platform, and suddenly this device comes along and provides us with an even more robust technological platform that makes the interactivity that we were going to provide, things like read-alongs, simple animation, music, to just sort of come to life, and that’s just one example.”
“When you think about ABC, you think about a program like `Lost’ and not just being able to watch the program, but all the other things that viewers like to do with that program. ABC News, another great example.”
“ESPN ScoreCenter, which is a great app on the iPhone, and provides relatively rudimentary information, scores, basically, suddenly we have an opportunity with a platform where you can really make the scores come to life.”