• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, April 5, 2010

Simpler technology. Big screen. No physical keyboard (who writes anything longer than 140 characters anyway?)  That's what the iPad is about.

Now TV companies such as Walt Disney -- with NBC Universal and CBS dipping smaller toes in the water -- have signed up, all in fear of missing out on yet another digital device that could be a hit.

It's about being on every device that could possibly give them a collective scale with all things digital. It's the we-want-to-be everywhere-the-consumer-is business philosophy.

From a business point of view, the iPad also seems destined to re-invent some digital advertising - giving Apple the ability to geo-target readers/users.

Much more than TV, the iPad give magazines a reprieve from the fallen old-school paper and ink platform. For iPad, it could be hello and goodbye to Kindle wannabees.

Print magazine content readers will get a lot from this "feel" experience, allowing viewers to turn more of a digital page than with other digital devices.

For TV content owners, putting hands on a screen would seem to give video a more enhanced engaged feel. It's yet to be decided if that will be enough.

Right now a variety of TV shows are offering free episodes for the iPad. But gee, haven't we been through this before? How long until Jeff Zucker or Les Moonves or Bob Iger starts talking about digital pennies -- that they are not getting their money's worth?

The advent of a new technology fills people with wonder and excitement. Then a few years into it, we are saying iTunes is so --so 2003, or Hulu.com, while a more upscale YouTube, still isn't delivering much for advertisers.

Will the iPad disappoint --- or will consumers disappoint it?