Two intriguing developments today in the ongoing saga of the vanishing American newspaper: Hearst Corp. will launch a wireless e-reader later this year, and the Long Island daily Newsday plans to end free Web content and charge readers for its online edition.
Hearst has a stable of magazines including Cosmopolitan, Esquire, Good
Can the Hearst e-reader save the daily? Details are sketchy at this point, but the device will reportedly have a large screen that's better suited to print articles and ads than the Amazon Kindle, but similar to the Kindle in features: low power consumption and an electronic ink display. The Kindle screen's dimensions are roughly those of a paperback book; Hearst's e-reader would be larger than that. And since the Hearst reader and its underlying technology would be available to other publishers, the gadget seems like a last-ditch effort to save the entire newspaper publishing industry as we know it--albeit without the paper--rather than one designed to gain an edge on the competition.
Many questions remain. Would subscribers pay for the e-reader? And why would readers buy (or rent) the e-reader if the newpaper's Web site has the same content for free, accessible from existing mobile devices? It's not a stretch to assume that the e-reader could mean the end of free content at newspaper sites--or at least an attempt by publishers to move in that direction.
The Hearst e-reader is intriguing, and it may work if readers see added value there. But I have serious doubts about Newsday's plan. With a few exceptions, most notably the Wall Street Journal, the online subscription model has failed miserably, as readers have found they could get free news elsewhere.