When I was a kid I always assumed that the newspaper format would change. I figured we’d be reading from a tablet but that we would receive our daily newspaper via cd rom. I also thought we’d be in flying cars and our tv would be a hollogram. I was also 11. Does that mean those things won’t happen, no but it also shows how slow we are to change. We drive cars today that get less gas mileage than they did ten years ago. Our televisions are basically the same as they were 50 years ago. And our newspapers are the same as they were 400 years ago. We as a society are better at developing new technologies than updating old ones. Where is our e-ink newsprint? It’s not going to happen but Amazon want’s to use a new technology to replace an old one.
Nothing has been announced officially but word is that Amazon will release a bigger screen Kindle to better support newspapers and magazines, two areas that have been hit hard in print. E-readers have yet to revolutionize the way people read books and it has yet to steer consumers from brick and mortar stores but there has been growth. About a half a million people bought a kindle last year, and while that’s not enough to start a mass exodus of advertisers from print, it is expected to show the growth to tempt them. Kindle users are in the right age range 25-45 and have the disposable income that ad execs covet. Is that enough to supplant newspapers? Probably not. Radio, television, and the internet all were supposed to be the death of newsprint and so far newspapers and magazines have survived. Your big city newspaper will do fine as long as they manage to adapt like they have in the past. Readership will be down but as long as they change thier expectations of what makes a successful newspaper and stay profitable, the 11 year old in me will have to wait a little while longer for the future I dreamed about. With the trouble automakers are having I might never get my flying car.
