“Half the people read the papers,
Read them good and well.
Pretty people, nervous people.
People have got to sell.
News you have to sell.”
UPDATE! Make sure and check the link at the end of this post for a related timely article
from the January 5th edition of The New York Times.
Newspapers, yes. Magazines and periodicals, absolutely.
Will the much-rumoured and hotly anticipated Apple tablet (or iSlate as some are calling it), be the next killer app? Will this portable, handheld, WiFi-enabled device euthanize the printed word?
Well, yes and no… probably.
When this Paul Bunyunesque iPhone is announced in a few short weeks (of course if it isn’t my reputation as a genius pundit is hooped!) my guess is that it’ll come supplied with several ‘trial subscriptions’ of noteworthy rags: a newspaper or two - possibly including the Wall Street Journal; a magazine or two - possibly including National Geographic Adventure; and an e-book or two - likely a novel by a famous author (Stephen King’s “Under The Dome”, perhaps), and something non-fiction (Thomas Friedman’s latest - “Hot, Flat and Crowded” would be an excellent choice).
Yes, that will happen.
But will this and other such devices — Kindle, Nook and iLiad among others on a growing list — spell Gutenberg’s demise?
No. At least not for awhile.
People still love the tactile sense of flipping and dogearring pages, highlighting passages, making marginal notes, loaning and collecting. Plus, who needs batteries? But consider the collateral advantages of lightweight, portable ‘electronic print’. Consider the following ’secondary level of sell’, so to speak. (more…)