A digital version of the USA Today newspaper has just been launched for the Amazon Kindle reading device. For US$11.99 a month you can get the latest US Today on your Kindle in the US – the Kindle reader is not avaiolable in Australia. A monthly home delivery subscription of the print version of USA Today costs US$16.00.
A digital version of the New York Times is available for the Kindle Reader for US$13.99 a month. A home delivery subscription of the print version of the New York Times costs US$21.20 for the same period.
You can be first Mark to offer the first newspaperless newsagent if that is what you think will happen to us. Your idea of the future is we all walk around with a kindle and stay locked to a stream of blog. that will only turn out to be one or two persons mindless ramblings about some trivial pursuit.
People want proper journalism and mobility not another piece of baggage. If I can offer one reason why people by papers is why do they still buy cards ?…
It’s personal thats why.
Paul,
Newspaperless newsagents exist already in the US and UK.
This blog post is not about my idea. No, it is reporting what is happening in the US.
Mark
Paul, it is possible to read more than mindless ramblings on blogs online. I don’t want to shock you but see this site http://www.theage.com.au. OMG, it’s actual newspaper articles online!
Paul, to make a less sarcastic answer, the reason mark often talks about digital news is simple. The only reason people still buy newspapers and magazines is because reading the physical product still provides a better experience. There is no medium as user friendly to use as paper. But those days are fast coming to an end, and some time within the next 10 years technology will catch up and a digital newspaper will provide a better user experience than paper. Digital paper will be cheap, flexible (can roll it up to squat a fly) and more user friendly than paper. People who don’t have an eye on this coming revolution may get a shock when it rolls over them. In 15 years I doubt newsagents will sell 10% of the newspapers and magazines they do now.
I remember back 10 – 15 years ago when it was mooted that the future would not include traditional newspapers and magazines, but the consumer would read on-line, buy on-line, I along with many others felt a cold wind blowing, but to my surprise it was not the case, traditional paper product survived. Now 15 years later and I am still in the industry and the cold wind is still blowing, the revolution is coming, but it does my heart good to still see my teenage daughter sprawled on her bed in a very messy bedroom with her laptop open but reading a dolly magazine