The key features of the iPad that are going to catalyse change in internet and email marketing use are the following:

* It takes seconds to get online using a browser, email client or other apps, and content consumption is comparable or better to the desktop or laptop experience.

* The iPad is easy to pick up and put down, it does not need a "place", and it's also easy to hand to another person and share internet content physically.

* The iPad feels like a leisure device (touch screen interface, ergonomics) and does not have the psychological "I am working" connotation of turning on a desktop or laptop.

These features have removed many of the barriers to internet use. The weight in the "going on line" effort/benefit equation has shifted away from effort. Is it worth going to the bother of turning on my computer waiting for the login screen, logging in, waiting for boot up, starting a browser to find out the score? Probably not. With an iPad, I already know the score. Even with a computer that is always on, it often has a stationary place, so you need to go to that place to use the internet. The iPad sits as naturally on the kitchen sideboard as the bedside table. I could probably check the score on my phone, but the content consumption experience is much less painful with the iPad, so activities that require a paragraph of text, or video content, become feasible more often.

This means that people will use the internet more often, in more places, particularly in the domestic context. For example, I read an article in the newspaper this morning and knew my wife would be interested. I had recycled the paper at the office and therefore did not have it to hand to her when we spoke in the kitchen this evening. I would not have bothered to start a laptop to find the article on line, nor would I have used my phone because reading the article is not practical or pleasurable on a phone screen. However, I did find it via the iPad in seconds.

The iPad is easy to hand to another person. If you want to communicate a message, it is very powerful to hand them a beautiful picture, striking video or eloquent email. There is no way of really doing this with desktop computers and I have rarely seen it done with laptops. I hand my iPad over all the time. So the "forward this email to a friend" feature comes back into the physical world with the iPad.

Furthermore, opener and responder behaviour for email marketing will also develop outside the current majority response times. Weekends will be more successful for send times than they currently are, early mornings and late nights will also see uplift in email response. Whatever you are using your iPad for, you can see on the home page that there is email waiting to be read. So you may be looking for a video recipe in the kitchen and as you pick up your iPad you will see 3 new email messages. This is email you would have normally waited till the morning to read, but tonight you just can’t stop yourself from reading it.

Email marketing content looks beautiful on the iPad. The backlighting and screen definition bring the focus of attention back to the actual content of the email. In the world of Outlook, email does not look gorgeous. The preview pane, subject line and messaging without images downloaded are more important. With the iPad, the inbox floats over the email and the combination of great backlit brightness means the user spends more time focussed on the content. Retail email marketing with beautiful product photography on a white background will particularly benefit from this. (click on image to view full size)

The iPad is also a mobile device where you can shop online in comfort. Online retailers at the Lyris customer event were asked how mobile has impacted their businesses in 2010 and the consensus was that this year is the first year that online sales have been seen in any significant numbers by customers using their iPhones.

These were sales on sites that had not been optimised for the iPhone, so customers required tenacity and a great wifi connection. The iPad changes all that. So not only are customers reachable by email in a wider range of domestic scenarios, activities and mood states, the iPad also allows you to more easily convert them to purchase.

For more thoughts about email marketing and the iPad read:

Email Marketing for the iPad

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