CEO Craig Dubow mentioned the Plastic Logic electronic display during Corporate's presentation Wednesday to Wall Street media stock analysts. Readers will use the Kindle-like device to access electronic editions of the Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News, as they drop four traditional print editions in a step closer to web-only delivery.
Gannett Detroit CEO Dave Hunke has said the Detroit Media Partnership got 100 Plastic Logic displays for distribution as part of an evaluation. "The readers, which boast a display area of 8 inches by 11 inches, aren’t slated for commercial distribution until 2010," says the Newspapers and Technology trade site.
Detroit is working with Plastic Logic to develop a lease plan that would allow subscribers to rent the readers, Hunke says. The Detroit joint operating agreement partnership will use the next several months to work out prices, availability and other issues, he said.
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Friday, March 20, 2009
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Apple also is producing something similar to this, that will blow this technology away.
ReplyDeleteThis is where Gannett is headed. Either learn the technology or look for another job. This is our future as journalists.
Kudos to Gannett for thinking ahead of the curve.
ReplyDeleteWe could be seeing here the equivalent of the early days of the mp3 player industry; several players looking to establish themselves in the market, and eventually a few fighting for dominance, and one becoming the industry standard.
Whatever the industry standard becomes, morally it needs to be accessible to all consumers, rich or poor or in between.
Someone needs to come up with a low-cost, durable product that can easily be replaced for a low price and be used to access the web, at least at a reasonable speed. You could add features to it at varying costs, allowing for a basic product affordable for everyone at a low price and premium products geared towards more affluent consumers and tech geeks at higher prices.
And, it would need to be the industry standard for newspaper and magazine media.
I see this device, and Amazon's Kindle, as examples of precursors of the industry standard (which probably hasn't been invented yet). It probably will be some sort of tablet that has the same functions a laptop possesses, and most importantly, can get you the content of USA Today, the NY Times, Newsweek, or whatever your newspaper/magazine of choice is, anywhere you are. Even the restroom.
2012
ReplyDeleteBy all reports from my former Detroit News colleagues, Gannett and MediaNews are working very hard to make this experiment with delivery of The Detroit News and Detroit Free Press a success. David Hunke is clearly committed to making this work and keeping BOTH newsrooms. More power to everyone in Motown.
ReplyDelete