Thursday, May 07, 2009

Will the Kindle Save Newspapers?


This the question posed by Time Magazine.

From the story...

On Wednesday, Amazon is expected to introduce a new, bigger-screen Kindle aimed at the textbook market and newspapers. The Wall Street Journal reports that half a dozen universities will be giving students the new Kindle in the fall; Amazon has also struck deals with a number of textbook publishers.

Joining CEO Jeff Bezos onstage will be New York Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger — signaling some kind of partnership between the Times and Amazon. It's no secret that Sulzberger has been talking to everyone about how to save the Times; he recently visited Silicon Valley and had a number of salon-style dinners with technocrats offering advice. Amazon's Kindle, however, has already proven to be a promising source of revenue for the newspaper. The Times is already the best-read subscription-based periodical on the current Kindles — though how well read is anyone's guess.




In regards to saving print newspaper? The actual newsPAPER kind, the one that smudges your fingers as you read it over coffee and toast in the morning? It may prove difficult, indeed, in that, according to The Christian Science Monitor people now prefer to read news online rather than in print. Further, they trust news found online a little more now than they do old line.

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