The iPad Will Change Television

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At the Disrupt conference this morning John Doerr of venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers told Charlie Rose that he takes his iPad to concerts and uses it in church. This is huge statement. If a nerd said this like Mark Zuckerburg or Chris Pirillo I wouldn't give it a 2nd thought. Thesee guys probably took laptops to concerts and church. When regular people start doing it you have a monumental shift going on.

I sit in front of the television with a laptop but I know that is not normal. The average American does not have a 2nd(laptop) or 3rd(smartphone) screen in front of them while watching TV. Television programs have been trying to get viewers to this for a few years now by asking you to text a message to a short code to get show updates or play along with some aspect of the show(Fox's 24 and American Idol voting come to mind). The iPad now opens up options for true interactivity during a show.

Think of all the possibilities:

• Imagine an online live chat or Twitter list that you can follow during a show. Viewers can comment on what is happening and see others comments. If it was a live show like American Idol they could vote on the performance while it was happening. 
• Game show watchers could answer the questions and play along. 
• Live shows like Saturday Night Live would know immediately how well a skit did. 
• Political debates could take live questions and political analyst would get a sense of how well their candidates were doing.

All of this is now becoming possible because of the iPad. I think it will change computing in the same way the iPod changed music and the iPhone changed mobile phones. What do you think, leave your ideas in the comments.