Speaking yesterday from The Wall Street Journal's annual 'D: All Things Digital' conference in California, Apple CEO Steve Jobs made a number of significant statements about the role of journalism in a democracy, the paradigm shift presented by the iPad as well as predictions for the future of personal computing. In an on-stage interview with Walt Mossberg, Jobs stated that "One of my beliefs, very strongly, is that any democracy depends on a free, healthy press. Some of these newspapers, the news-gathering and editorial organizations are really important, I don't want to see us descend into a nation of bloggers, myself. I think we need editorial more than ever right now.

Putting aside, for a moment, Mr. Job's inherent self-interest in promoting newspapers, there is a good deal of depth and significance to what he is saying. The iPad has the potential to offer readers an experience that is far more compelling and pleasant than reading a newspaper on the world wide web. It therefore stands to reason that consumers may be willing to pay a small amount of money for this sort of premium content. As Jobs correctly points out, it should be possible for newspapers to save a lot of money as compared to printing and distributing traditional papers. On account of the the potential demand for newspapers on the iPad combined with the cost-savings, Jobs espouses support for a low-price, high-volume approach.

Later on in the interview, Jobs also touches on what he see's as the future (or lack thereoff) for personal computers and the post-pc era.

Source: paidContent