Monday, January 4, 2010
Slate.com - The Tablet Hype: They Can’t Possibly Save Magazines and Newspapers.
Via Slate.com:
Sports Illustrated dazzled the technorati and knuckle-draggers alike earlier this month [December 2009] with a demo of a digital tablet prototype of the magazine promised for 2010. Radiating a wow-factor equal to some of the media gadgets in Steven Spielberg’s Minority Report, the SI demo promises full-motion video, lightning-quick screen refreshes as you flick from page to page, and the power to customize the device per your preferences.
Time Inc., which owns Sports Illustrated, isn’t the only publisher making digital reader noise. Engadget wrote about a similar, though less-polished demo of Condé Nast’s Wired; the Hearst Corp. plans to start an online magazine and newspaper service in 2010 called Skiff, which will include a dedicated Skiff e-reader; and other newspaper and magazine companies are jumping into the mix.
Meanwhile, GQ and Esquire are releasing paid iPhone editions, the Kindle has new digital competition from Barnes & Noble’s Nook, and folks can’t stop talking about the much-rumored but unannounced revolutionary Apple tablet.
Read the full article.
