Steve Jobs Canoodles With NYT Execs in Top-Secret Meeting

by Blair Hickman | 1:09 pm, February 5th, 2010

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According to Daniel Maurer of the Daily Intel, Steve Jobs and 50 New York Times execs held a top-secret dinner meeting, organized by Apple, at Pranna on Wednesday night. The group dined in the cellar, enjoying chef Chai Trivedi’s South Asian delicacies under the glow of the iPad’s LED.

“Our source,” Maurer writes, “says Jobs sat at the head of the “intimate, family-style gathering” with Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger, demonstrated the iPad and its functions, and spoke about how it could serve the future of media.”

Kinda sounds like a sales meeting, doesn’t it? In the past, the Times has expressed hesitation over signing an exclusive contract with the iPad, for fear of losing their relationship with their readers. Traditionally, print publications’ marketing prowess comes from consumer profile and credit card information compiled when someone subscribes. If they relinquish this relationship to Apple, Inc., then they risk losing even more money, and Steve Jobs moves one step closer to God.

A few days ago, Jason Calacanis went on a vlogging tirade on the subject, but an app-driven subscription process may be just the challenge old-school print publications need. What they’re doing clearly isn’t working, and if Apple’s previous “flops” (ahem, iPod) are any indication of the iPad’s future success, then print needs to figure out how to exist in the iPad’s world. And they need to do it fast.

Now, what I really want to know is whether or not those bacon-wrapped prawns inspired their creativity. BAM!