French Newspapers Get Together to Sell Digital Reader
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 07.22.08
Paula Kupfer for the International Herald Tribune
Newspaper sales are dropping all over the world as people migrate to electronic sources; in North America they all let Craigslist eat their lunch with free classifieds, and it seems that young people have completely abandoned them. They certainly are not the most environmentally benign way of delivering news, either.
In France, the newspaper companies aren't waiting for iPhones and computers to kill their business; they are working together to introduce the Read & Go, which will let subscribers download the contents of participating papers onto "the most convincing electronic facsimile of ordinary paper in existence." The Kindle delivers papers in America, but the French system is advertiser supported.
Paul-François Fournier of France Telecom says that "the Read & Go editions of the papers would be different from online, print and mobile editions, while borrowing elements from all three. The articles resemble the print versions, for instance, but instead of appearing once a day on the newsstand, they are downloaded and updated automatically, over the cellular network. The advertisements, meanwhile, resemble print display ads but have some of the interactive qualities of online ads, allowing readers to click on them for more information about a product being advertised." ::International Herald Tribune
One might ask why such a device is needed when one can read the paper online or on a cellphone, particularly as cellphone screens all start imitating the iPhone and get big enough to read on. However, in Europe a much higher percentage of the population commutes by transit, where most people read their papers and where it is pretty hard to read a laptop.
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She is NEVER French. No self-respecting Parisienne would wear such a horrible top!
Why is it that e-book producers are so keen on the "experience" of paper? It's been 14 years since the Internet has started getting delivered into our homes. People are now obviously more content to read from a screen than they are from a newspaper (otherwise newspaper sales wouldn't be tanking). People under the age of 25 hardly know what it's like to be *without* a computer and internet access. Only hardcore paper fetishists give a damn anymore. Just give us something that's portable and we'll be happy. Really.
Ernie, don't knock it till you try it. Reading a standard laptop or PDA screen in sunlight is a dead loss. The high-contrast e-ink readers are much nicer to use - I find I have a lot less eyestrain (I'm not blind, but I do wear glasses), and so I can comfortably read for longer on those devices than I can a PDA.
Also, e-ink devices are generally enough larger than PDAs that you can page through without having to hit the Nex button every second, while not being anywhere near as bulky as a laptop (or even eeePC, which I have as well).
Oh, and there are plenty of e-ink devices that have internet connectivity, although I'd rather use my laptop and browse in colour. Handy for RSS news-type feeds, though.
"waiting for iPhones and computers"
Who's waiting for iPhones? I've got my trust HTC Touch Diamond (runs WinMo 6.1!), and it works great.
Personally, I think these e-book devices are a waste. It's better to have a bunch of electronic content going in one super device, than a bunch of separate devices. In a green sense.
"downloaded and updated automatically" - Like you couldn't do that on a regular phone or laptop with internet/cellular access?