Hot on the heels of Amazon's highly anticipated
Kindle 2 launch comes this: news that Hearst Corporation -- which publishes iconic magazines including
Cosmopolitan and
Esquire along with the
San Francisco Chronicle -- will be launching its own wireless e-reader. While many may be quick to label this forthcoming device as a Kindle competitor, the concept behind this is far more elaborate than simply knocking Amazon from its perch. In an effort to "preserve the business model that has sustained newspapers and magazines" while moving forward with technology, Hearst is planning to ship a larger-than-usual reader (around the size of a standard sheet of paper), giving publishers (and advertisers, by extension) about the same amount of space as they're used to when pushing out e-articles. Reports suggest that the device -- which will do the monochrome thing until a color version debuts later -- could land as early as this year, with Hearst & Friends planning to sell them to publishers and "take a cut of the revenue derived from selling magazines and newspapers on these devices." No exaggeration here -- this may be the biggest news we've heard for print media in years, not to mention the promise of an all-new
e-reader for gadget nerds to swoon over.
posted February 27th 2009 11:24AM
Jonac, it's nice to see you off KoL, and that's about the best thing I've seen in this entire article. I don't know how well it will go over (I'm sticking with my old Kindle- "sexy" though that new one may be, I have qualms about its thinness and reliability) in regards to being pretty enough, but the point a lot of folks are missing is this: the commenter above who said this would make or break print media is more right than most will think. Developed in an age where "getting along" was laughable to competing newspapers and magazines, the fact that they are having to work together on something will be crucial, and to an old pessimist like me, probably the downfall of those unwilling to bend.
They'll be reading from LCD screens, which is terrible for your eyes.
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