Sky News Australia yesterday published a report declaring that tablet computers and e-readers will kill print. It opened with…
Tablet computers and electronic readers promise to eventually close the book on the ink and paper era as they transform the way people browse magazines, check news or lose themselves in novels.
No mincing of words there. Further down the article gets into some detail:
Newspapers and magazines, however, should read the digital writing on the wall, according to analysts.
‘Newspapers and magazines have different issues,’ Weiner said.
‘Print will wind up extinct for newspapers, while magazines will need to figure out the balance between print and digital,’ he contended.
Newspapers spend lots of money printing and distributing daily editions that can’t be kept as fresh as stories on the Internet.
That’s respected Gartner analyst Allen Weiner they are quoting.
None of this should be a surprise, certainly not regulars here. I don’t see these predictions as a problem as much as I see them as an opportunity. However, it is only an opportunity if we embrace it as such.
I was talking to someone yesterday who was considering buying a newsagency. They wanted to know what I thought of the channel from an investment perspective. I am positive about it and am putting my money where my mouth is. There are plenty of newsagencies delivering excellent year on year growth. Sure there world is changing. The key is to embrace and even chase change.
Hi Mark, do you have any suggestion for a distribution only newsagent?
Appreciate all the info coming through, its important and I am sure like everyone else it is appreciated. Business decisions are being made from various posts especially these ones.
Paper sales have been in free fall for me for a few years now and I have long accepted the need to move the focus of the business from news to other more profitable product. Magazines are a growth product and I suspect that true specialists will remain magazine stockists although eventually the department will be given a less floor space.
We really need to become mini department stores and focus on innovation and innovative products but this will take some brave decisions and no doubt some mistakes along the way to redifining our businesses.