Emeril Lagasse Lays Apple iPod

By JULIETTE ROSSANT What's new in cookbooks? Well, what about getting rid of the "book" part? Emeril Lagasse is deploying Apple's miracle machine the iPod to push his restaurants and his recipes. His official website has a new "Pod Stuff" section; below a silhouette of a Emeril cum iPod are free downloads. Only one of the three offerings is available: mFinder 1.0, which has details of all of Emeril's restaurants. More is coming. First are "podMeals 1.0" with menus; second are "ReciPods 1.0" with some 1,000 recipes by the king of gaaaahhhrlic himself. These ReciPods could pose a serious challenge to the average cookbook, which often have only scores and less often hundreds of recipes. My question: will Emeril's 1,000 recipes be free? If so, how will that affect his own hardback cookbook sales? Or, has someone identified for him the marketing fact that the iPod-savvy market does not buy cookbooks anyway, so that he will not cannibalize his own market? Emeril's dalliance with Apple does not stop here: he also offers "mCards on his site, with the look and feel of Apple's popular iCards service. Surprisingly, I have not found any official announcement about a tie-up between Emeril and Apple, but there must be a deal since Emeril is using Apple's iPod advertising scheme as well as iPod services, not to mention the mCard. Is something big in the works, or is this tip really the whole iceberg? One thing I predict: lots and lots of ReciPod clones. Previous Celebrity Chef articles for Forbes Magazine: High-Class Cookers: Emeril Lagasse Chefs du Buck: Emeril Lagasse Dough Boys: Corn Dog Cuisine (Emeril Lagasse) Previous articles on superchefblog: Valentine's Tea: Bouquets to Drink Valentine's Knives: Cut to the Heart Tony Danza Rates With Chefs Hello Kitty, Meet Emeril Lagasse All Hail Alfred Portale Motley Fool Mulls Over "Frankenfish" (or Emeril's Notches on B&G Foods) Emeril Adds Some Spice To B&G Foods' IPO Emeril's Original Has Expectations Kicked Down A Notch Chef Branding: B&G Foods Exposes Emeril? Iron Chef: America vs. USA Benjamin Christie: Australian Emeril? Does Emeril always kick products up a notch? Just a Spoonful of Aerosmith Makes the Emeril Go Down? --> back to superchefblog