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CES (Consumer Electronics Show) Las Vegas, the world's largest consumer technology trade ended on January 10. Two new e-reading devices, the Skiff Reader and the QUE proReader, developed with the press industry in mind, were launched at this event. And it comes as no surprise that Amazon has chosen this very same week to announce that its Kindle DX (also designed for the press!) was ready for a worldwide shipment.
Skiff, formerly known as FirstPaper, launched the Skiff Reader (see photos left and on top of the page) and Plastic Logic targets business professionnals with the QUE proReader.
Summaries of the presentations will be posted soon!
For inquiries, please contact Gilles Demptos at gilles.demptos@wan-ifra.org
Without a shred of doubt, 2009 has been the year of the e-reading device, and new models will come out quickly next year. But computer manufacturers are trying hard to shift consumer attention to the tablet PC.
Apple’s tablet is still a rumor, as is Microsoft’s in-process "tablet-booklet" Courier (in the "late prototype" stage of development, according to the CNET gadget blog). But ICD has released concrete information on its Vega Tablet, which will run Android 2.0:
Instead of waiting for the Japanese launch of Apple's iPad, Sony, Toppan Printing, KDDI Corporation, and the Asahi Shimbun have announced they will establish a joint venture to develop an eBook distribution company that will build and manage a common distribution platform for books, comics, magazines and newspapers for the Japanese market. And the door is opened for other companies.
It has emerged recently that Rupert Murdoch (Chairman of News Corporation) is planning a cooperation with Apple CEO Steve Jobs with a view to launching on the market a daily newspaper for Tablet devices, especially the iPad, in the near future. According to unconfirmed reports, "The Daily", as it will be called, will cost 99 cent per issue and will be updated several times during the course of the day. It is reported that the project will benefit from an initial investment of about US$ 30 million.
The Boston Consulting Group has entered the paid content debate this month with a valuable contribution. It’s “Willingness to pay for news online” report presents key findings from an international survey.
While Internet users are spending more and more of their time with social networks, advertising spend continues to be directed towards more traditional web uses. What are the reasons for this paradox? Jean-Nicolas Reyt analyses the situation*.
It might be that Apple just made life easier for publishers pondering if they should start developing for smaller-sized devices.
Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs commented during the company’s quarterly earnings call yesterday (Monday 18) that he did not believe on an “avalanche of tablets” about to enter the market: “It appears to be just a handful of credible entrants, not exactly an avalanche”.
Sony's just announced the Reader Daily Edition, a new device that will give consumers wireless access via AT&T’s 3G mobile broadband network to Sony’s eBook store.The Reader Daily Edition will be available this December. Unfortunately, no timetable for a European launch at the moment.
A complete new line of digital readers for Sony (last on the right is the Reader Daily- photo from ebouquin)
Sony introduced on August 5 two new Readers. One of them, the Reader Pocket Edition will cost $199 (140 euros), making it the most affordable dedicated reading device on the market.
Sony will abandon its proprietary software for electronic Sony Reader and convert to the open ePub format by the end of the year.
Amazon has announced new revenue-sharing terms for magazines and newspapers wishing to join the Kindle platform. Publishers will keep 70 percent of the retail price (minus delivery costs) of each publication sold.
Though interested in portable e-readers, Australian publisher Fairfax, like News Corporation before it, does not want to be tied into a deal with Amazon that leaves the Kindle creator with the lion’s share of revenues.
Fairfax's director of marketing and newspaper sales, Robert Whitehead, is also the president of The Pacific Area Newspaper Publishers Association (PANPA)
The Taiwanese giant Asus is readying an eBook offer, with probably a low-cost reader and a deluxe version, just as Amazon and Sony are offering. It seems to be a promising new player to boost the eReading market, but so far, Asus is keeping most of its technological and marketing cards secret. As an example, will it use an LCD display (it would be risky), or E Ink technology? Will it be available worldwide? Can we expect something for Christmas? What about its 3G connectivity?
Dutch e-reader developer iRex Technologies have announced that their latest e-reader, the DR800SG, will go on sale in October through electronics retailer Best Buy in the US, and will link to the Barnes & Noble e-book store. Users will also be able to access some 1100 newspapers from Newspaper Direct.
Anders Stenbäck, Business Development Manager at Hesingin Sanomat of Finland explained the secrets of making money from hyperlocal, in this case with a mapping/directory product called My Own City which answers such questions as where to find a good restaurant/plumber/tailor/hairdresser etc.
Plastic Logic announced that it will work with Olive Software on its Publishers Program. The two companies are developing content publishing solutions to efficiently optimize and distribute content for the Company’s forthcoming eReader, due in the marketplace in early 2010.
Few knew what to expect when Inmaculada Martinez of Stradbroke Advisors took to the stage to talk about 'Positive Deviants and the Agents of Change' but what followed was a lively canter through media predictions and Generation Y – the generation that grew up with digital and which in 2010 will outnumber the baby boomers. 90 per cent of them have joined a social network and with that social media has overtaken porn as the number one activity online.
Philippe Jannet, CEO of Le Monde Interactif talked about that paper's mobile experience. Le Monde already has a paid for model online with a subscription scheme that sees some content published for free and other services, including the right to contribute UGC charged for. Jannet mused on the idea of charging users to write for the paper as he didn't invent the model but it works and ads sell for more on subscriber pages than free ones.
iRex Technologies, one of the leading providers of e-reading solutions (including its iLiad e-reader), announced at the Society for Information Display conference in San Antonio, Texas, USA, that it has made considerable progress on a next-generation reading device: It will be in colour, writable, and ultra-thin. Launch date is scheduled by mid 2011.
In May, The New York Times launched the second version of its Times Reader software, based on Adobe’s Air application, which comes closer to a real newspaper reading experience.
At no time in the foreseeable future will digital advertising revenues replace those
lost to print, making the search for new business models including paid-for online access for news a pressing concern for the news publishing industry, the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) said in its annual world press trends update.
The Taiwanese company Prime View International (PVI), known for its development of e-reading displays that are already featured on numerous devices, including Amazon’s Kindles and Sony’s readers, has added a powerful asset to its further development: The company has signed a definitive agreement to acquire E Ink Corporation, considered the leader in electronic paper display materials and intellectual property, for approximately US$ 215 million. E-ink, pioneer of the development of the electronic ink technology, is after all a symbol in the e-reading arena.
“We are relaxing all restrictions on the development tools used to create iOS apps, as long as the resulting apps do not download any code” said Apple in a recent statement. Designers can now develop apps with Flash and compile them into a native iOS format. Apple also published for the first time its App Store Review Guidelines to help developers understand how they review submitted apps.
El periódico español Diario de Navarra trabaja desde hace meses en una edición para los dispositivos electrónicos de lectura, tipo e-book y e-reader. Luis Llamas, Responsable de Negocios Digitales en el Área de Expansión y Desarrollo del grupo La Información, editor del citado diario, nos explica este proyecto.
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