eReaders for newspapers

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The slump in print advertising and less than encouraging growth in online revenue, rising paper prices and high delivery costs have prompted a few publishers to open other doors for innovative strategies. To do more with less, slimmer and sleeker eReaders are being seriously talked about. Digitalisation is not only a cost effective media since it saves printing and delivery cost but is also more environment friendly and perhaps —  more accessible in Western countries than print.

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• Kindle DX — the third incarnation of Amazon’s eReader

In the March issue of IPP, we wrote about the Sony and Amazon eBook readers targeting the book market. As reported by the press, Amazon’s Kindle has access to more than 245,000 electronic books. To battle the competition, Sony and Google plan to launch a partnership that will give users of the Sony eBook reader access to more than half a million free public domain books from Google’s book digitisation project. The partnership seems to be a well-strategised move for Google since it will help them expand the reach of their online books service and garner benefits from advertising and subscription revenue.

Going a step ahead are the to be launched Amazon’s Kindle DX, Plastic Logic and Hearst eBook readers which target the broader customer base by having newspapers, magazines and journals available on their hand-held gadgets.

Amazon – Kindle DX
Amazon seems to be racing with time. It has, within two months, released another version of Kindle. The third incarnation has a screen display of 9.7 inches — is approximately 1/3 inch thick, weighs 10.2 ounces (289 grams), and features a built-in PDF reader using Adobe Reader Mobile technology in addition to other formats in previous versions. It can contain 275,000 books, would have a total of 37 mostly US newspapers plus magazines, and has 3G wireless for downloading and buying content. The device has an auto-rotating display and is bundled with enough features to impress tech lovers. Amazon is expected to retail the device for $489 (approximately Rs 23,270) when it is released next year.

The company has signed up with The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Boston Globe for them to offer the Kindle DX to subscribers at a reduced price in exchange for long-term subscriptions. Five universities (Princeton, University of Virginia, Case Western, Arizona State, and Reed College) are launching pilot programs where the KindleDX will be offered to students as a replacement for textbooks.

Though, this new adaptation of the hand-held reading device is aimed at reviving the newspaper and publication industry, it seems like a tough ask. Kindle is primarily being criticised for coming up with new versions in short span of time, thus frustrating users who buy successively but notionally obsolete Kindles. People also feel that the device is expensive and overspecified — there’s no need to carry so many books and journals at the same time. The increased size of the screen diminishes portability. Monochrome eReader screens as opposed to online editions are another technological drawback.  Moreover there does not seem to be a good enough reason for spending hard earned money in buying something that is available for free online. Prices are expected to come down in coming years as more readers enter the marketplace.

Plastic Logic
Plastic Logic is creating a publisher program to help content creators, aggregators and publishers to format, prepare, sell and distribute content for their eReader. The product is claimed to support a wide range of document types like PDF, doc(x), xls(x), ppt(x), text, rtf, html, jpeg, png, bmp, ePub and eReader format. EReader to be launched in 2010 is less than 7 mm (about half an inch) thick and has both wired and unwired access to content. The screen will measure 10.7 inches (about 270 mm) diagonally compared to Kindle DX’s 9.7-inch (246 mm) display thereby making it a preferable option for information media.

Plastic Logic has tied up with Detroit Media Partnership (DMP) to develop a lease plan that would enable DMP subscribers to rent the eReaders. Editorsweblog.org – a publication of the World Editor’s forum, recently reported that DMP has been cutting down its print distribution costs to focus more on digital news. Editorsweblog.org’s Emma Heald says that DMP has obtained 100 of the large display eReaders, which it will try out with readers of the electronic editions of both newspapers.

Hearst
Hearst publishes magazines including Cosmopolitan, and Esquire and newspapers like the San Francisco Chronicle. The company, as reported on CNNmoney.com has developed a wireless eReader with a large-format screen suited to the reading and advertising requirements of newspapers and magazines. Michael V. Copeland of CNNmoney.com says that the hand held large-format device is likely to debut this year and will be based on electronic ink technology. Downloading content from participating newspapers and magazines will occur wirelessly. For durability, the device is likely to have a flexible core, perhaps even be foldable rather than the brittle glass substrates used in readers on the market today.
Hearst and its partners, as reported by CNNmoney.com, plan to sell the eReaders to publishers and to take a cut of the revenue derived from selling magazines and newspapers on these devices. The company will, however, leave it to the publishers to develop their own branding and payment models.

Our view
With these developments, the supply of new technology in publishing seems appropriate if and when the demand arises. But are they targeted for international customers or just another America based gadget expected to be adopted by the world? Also, the debate is on about whether the new eReaders can save the publishing and newspaper industry from doom. More so, because although newspapers will get rid of their printing and distribution over-heads, the main revenue stream from advertising looks bleak with limited eReadership and lack of tangible benefits.

In this time of economic meltdown and severe layoffs, the gadget is relatively expensive. The launch of these devices implies that customers would pay more for the electronic editions of newspapers which are available at a lower price in print and even free online -- that too in colour as opposed to the monochrome content available on these gadgets.
Media commentator Steve Ruble recently suggested that newspaper companies subsidise the Kindle for their readers, offering it at a lower price with their publications already loaded. But with all this progress, it needs to be seen if the readers will give up their printed versions for electronic readers.

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