Ovum: iPad won’t save newspapers

Ovum, a technology analyst firm, says Apple’s iPad isn’t the silver bullet newspaper owners like Rupert Murdoch are hoping for.

In a May 28 report, the company says: “Apple’s much-hyped tablet device alone will fail to secure the future of news and magazine publishing.”

Adrian Drury, Ovum’s principal media and broadcasting analyst and report co-author, says: “The iPad promise is a set of new distribution channels for packaged media, but it is one device and volumes will take time to build. Traditional publishing’s challenge to find a new and sustainable business model is immediate.”

The company also says the market for iPad media will quickly become “congested”.

The company forecasts Apple will have shipped 13.2 million iPads by the end of 2011. This compares with 25 million iPhones shipped in 2009 alone.