“The eventual goal is to have publishers create hybridized content that draws from audio, video and interactive graphics in books, magazines and newspapers, where paper layouts would be static.”. Gizmodo.
Apparently Apple is working very hard with publishers to digitize their content for their upcoming tablet ( release date : January 2010). But what is extremely interesting here is that, apparently Apple is hard at work redefining what print magazine might soon look like and , by being the first, set a standard.
Already some publishers are playing with Flash or Adobe Air to render a more interactive platform that would mix sounds, music, video and photography, along with text into a full experience media. This portable color tablet, unlike the moribund b & W Amazon Kindle, will offer a reading experience like it has never been seen before. The possibilities are almost limitless and exciting. One will be able to choose for example, based on the time available, how deeply he/she will be involve reading/listening/experiencing a story. Got a few seconds? text only. have a minute? Text , photos, maybe a little sound bite. Have an hour? text, video, interview, video.
Photography will then be redefined by this new medium. Not just as it is taken, but how it is re assembled for the viewers (more multimedia) as well as how is it licensed.
Microsoft, with its upcoming Courier, is also in the race and quite advanced too. see video here:
Courier User Interface from Gizmodo on Vimeo.Both solutions will might make it into posterity but will certainly mark the way we will consume photography in the near future. For those who were waiting to know where photogrpahy was going, well, now you have the answer.
I think that you are right. This technology is the game changer.