How the iPhone Will Shape Media in the Next Ten Years

We already know that the internet is changing the way we view our news.  Whether you're checking the Drudge Report on the way to work, or entering a Google News search to keep up with the latest piece of technology, the web has made news more customizable to our own lives.  With the release of the iPhone, and the increasing role smart phones are playing in the way we use the internet, media is being shaped even further.  But how exactly will that play out in the next ten years?

First, expect to see news to become more of a pay-for-content business than before.  If you've been keeping tabs on media news lately, you know that Rupert Murdoch's News Corp is in talks with Microsoft to offer their new content exclusively to Microsoft - in other words, not to Google.  This means that sources like Fox News, the Wall Street Journal, and The Sun would be available through Bing.com, but not through a Google News search.

In other words, someone who enjoyed Fox News' coverage more would be incentivize to run a news search through Bing rather than Google.  It would make sense that Apps on the iPhone would follow this media trend, allowing you to view the news from the source of your choice - and sometimes, for a price.

PCWorld also points out that the iTunes format of content-retrieval (i.e., pay for an album or a song at a time) can also work for magazines.  In an increasingly paperless world, it's not audacious to imagine that magazines could eventually be available only through readers like the iPhone or the Amazon Kindle.  Subscriptions could work the same - and casual readers could simply by up one issue at a time.

To understand how business adapts to consumer behavior, watch how people are making money through that consumer behavior to begin with.  We already know that iPhone Apps are incredibly popular.  Expect Apps to become even more popular, and even standard practice for other smart phones with their own applications.  And expect news outlets to take full advantage of these Apps, whether they're selling you individual articles or magazines.  The good news, of course, is that these outlets will still be focused on making a buck by making you - the customer - happy.