New iPhone a giant asteroid strike for broadsheets

Holy hell. If news outlets ever thought that handheld devices would not save them, they were wrong.

The new iPhone 4, displayed Monday at the Worldwide Developers Conference (available June 24), has all the features any journalist (CJ or PJ) needs to never again be in a newsroom.

Of these features include FaceTime, the ability for video calling (right now just WiFi capable) is a feat that will put an end to mobile video cameras such as the FlipCam, which could not even transmit data remotely.

Imagine using this new technology in the field as a reporter from a scene and dialing in to a website or central newsroom to show you reporting live as action is happening around you.

Another is the overall video capabilities of the phone itself. No more is there a need for a film crew or bulky cameras for on-the-spot news. Point, shoot, edit, send. Seamless. This is possible and will be the future. High school and college students will use this technology to enhance their newspapers’ websites as schools cut back on their budgets. Professional journalists and bloggers will do the same. And for the same reason.

The gyroscope built into the new device also is a feature worth exploiting for maps and geocoding of news for both the consumer and the producer.

The iAd feature is something news outlets also will need to investigate as they construct more apps that benefit the consumer and keep those same consumers within the app, rather than taking them to a random site. That also means more cash as it can display videos, demos and, essentially, offer twice as much interactive ad space than in print or on television.

With this new phone, we will begin to see other companies compete as they start to exploit the trend of smaller, faster and better. We also will see more citizen journalists take to the streets with this device (and other future versions of it) to re-define journalism.

The broadsheets would do well to jump on this train asap. Every newspaper should equip all of their reporters, but it should not stop there. There has to be macro-coordination throughout the news organization so that information and images travel seamlessly from the event to the editor to the public. This will not work with the “let’s wait and see if it gets popular.” Note: it’s already popular.

Evolve or die.