 I can assure you, this will not be what it looks like. |
Hearst developing its own e-reader, for periodicals – CNET News — Apparently the company is not losing ENOUGH money with the SF Chronicle and the Seattle P-I, so it has decided to get into the miserable e-book business. Hopefully, for the sake of Hearst Co., this will just be a private label deal that will not affect the bottom line. Somehow, though, I suspect they will still lose money with this turkey.
Hearst, one of the largest media conglomerates in the world, announced on Friday that it has developed an electronic reader for newspapers and magazines, the way Amazon.com’s new Kindle does for books.
The news, first reported by Fortune magazine, is really significant, as Hearst owns about 16 daily and 49 weekly newspapers, and has a strong influence on hundreds of magazines. Examples of those include the San Francisco Chronicle, Oprah Winfrey’s O, and Cosmopolitan.
It’s unclear if the device Hearst has been working on has anything to do with the eReader that Plastic Logic unveiled recently, but its principle seems the same. It’s a handheld device used to read digital content, much like the Kindle. The main difference would be that Hearst’s e-reader has a much larger size to accommodate the format of newspapers and magazines.
It’s also speculated that Hearst’s e-reader is going to be physically flexible and even foldable. The first version would come in black and white, with a later model coming in color and even with video playback capability.
You guys do know that for years Hearst Interactive Media has been a major financial supporter of the company e-Ink?
RBG,
Give me a break! I know you were tongue in cheek, but all the devices you mentioned were ridiculous novelty items. E-readers are here to stay… and they will evolve into exactly what you’re talking about. However, tell me how many times you tossed a novel away because it wasn’t in color. Har! Electronic ink is easy on the eyes. My eyes get burned out reading a computer screen. Electronic ink is like reading a printed page. Who needs color for 90% of what you read?
This makes sense for Hearst to get it’s publications on e-readers. I heard recently that distribution would be cheaper for the NYT to give away Kindles with each two year subscription. Why not a model like this. Maybe that is what Hearst is thinking.
Hey John. Can you explain to me why anyone who owns a laptop would buy a so-called eReader? I think the whole idea is a joke and I’m genuinely surprised by the apparent acceptance from your readers that I see expressed in the above comments. What am I missing??
23. hhopper
Now let me take you into the far, far distant future. Where movies and television and periodicals and digital pix and illustrations and webzines and newspapers and magazines and books are in… color.
RBG
24,
You have obviously never seen or used an e-ink display. There is a significant eyestrain difference between a backlit image and a reflective image.
26,
Uh, well… between work, personal email, half a dozen newspapers a day and blogs like this, I spend about 12 hours a day reading my laptop with no apparent problems, unless that’s what made my hair fall out! If I get a Kindle will my hair grow back???