May 4, 2009 0
Bigger better Kindle: could new e-readers help save print media?
The Internet is buzzing with news that Amazon is likely to announce the release of a new, large-format Kindle at a press conference scheduled for Wednesday morning.
According to Peter Kaftka’s Media Memo, the new toy from Amazon would lend itself more to magazine and newspaper reading than the original 6 inch Kindle, which goes for $359.
No news yet on how much the new gadget will cost or what the demand for them may be.
But if competition is any indication, it looks like the e-readers are catching on.
According to Kaftka, Plastic Logic has also been working on its own 8.5 by 11 inch screen, which is scheduled to hit the market in 2010.
The big question is, what does a new newspaper and magazine e-reader mean for newspapers and magazines?
The answer? Take your pick.
A) Absolutely nothing. MG Siegler of Tech Crunch refers to the new readers as an incomplete Hail Mary pass to the newspaper industry.
B) A lifeboat. The NYTimes quotes John Ridding of the Financial Times as saying he is awaiting the device’s release “with a great deal of interest.”
“The severe double whammy of the recession and the structural shift to the Internet has created an urgency that has rightly focused attention on these devices.”
C) It probably means more for the survivors. Kaftka takes the view that it’s too late for the new e-reader to change the tide for print media, but it may very well help boost those media companies that do make it through the current crisis.
“It doesn’t matter how you deliver the information, if you can’t afford to generate it in the first place. And the industry’s more sober executives understand that.
But if Kindle-like devices really do take off, they will be a natural platform for whatever version of the publishing industry survives.”
