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Jacobs on Jobs

JacApps president muses on Steve Jobs’ impact on radio

JacApps Inc. President Fred Jacobs recently dedicated an entry in his APPtitude Blog on Steve Jobs’ recent stepping down from the helm of Apple Inc. and his overall impact on the radio industry.

Jacobs began with a quick jab at media outlets for missing the point of this news and instead concentrating on the easy story, the effect on Apple’s stock prices.

The real story, according to Jacobs, is Jobs’ impact on interpersonal communication and media in our modern world. While many believe he hurt the radio industry by not including a FM tuner in iPhones, Jacobs claims he did us all a big favor. With the use of apps, radio content streaming (and its respective brands) can “sit alongside Facebook, Pandora and Major League Baseball.” Talk about exposure.

Other new tricks radio has learned over the past three years, according to Jacobs, include podcasts, video, ads, event promotion and access to social media outlets, all for practically no cost. He says it is up to the industry to recognize the potential with apps to create amazing user experiences. These ideas reflect a recent newsletter from the Michigan Association of Broadcasters on the downsides of simulcasting.

Jacobs closes with a list of other lessons from Jobs, including the importance of maintaining a strong brand and creating a great retail experience (i.e. Apple Stores).

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