To your point about getting people to pay in the land of the free…thank you for raising such a key question. I think it’s fascinating that the answer is ‘create another platform’. The tablets present a very seductive solution to the media owner – premium-looking and, if they get the relationship right with manufacturers, very controllable in terms of format, UX, cost etc. Equally, I know I’m not alone in being fairly convinced Apple will make us, the citizens, fall deeply and irrevocably in love with the idea of carrying an A4 sized device around in our bags on a daily basis. Probably just in time for the holidays, end 2010. It’ll be so much more than just high quality, mobile multi-media content. It could change our lives, just like the iPod changed how we listen to music. I can imagine video calls (literally a ‘window on my world’) and augmented reality stuff *actually getting adopted*.

That said, I am always a bit sceptical whenever I read statements like the one below:

“E-paper e-readers will be one of the major disruptive technologies of the early 21st century,” said the report’s author, Nick Hampshire, “it will change the nature of publishing and related print industries forever, ushering in a host of innovative ways to present, market, and distribute content.”

“Yup. Maybe” is my instinctive first reaction. Truth is though, I absolutely can imagine a time when we regard reading a book or magazine as antiquated as reading a scroll. For me, it boils down to one thing: people will pay – in droves – for something that transforms their experience for the better. Anything less and we stay with what we’ve got (my near non-existent relationship with my Kindle is all the evidence I can conjure at this point in the evening, but hopefully you get the idea).

Final point on this – my fascination with this is partially down to the fact the solution strikes me as a pretty dramatic strike against the egalitarian, open culture that’s grown up around the web. Removing content from circulation (content that used to be free or cost a few dollars in hardcopy) and selling it back exclusively via what might eventually drop to a $200+ device – is that progress? I guess we’ll see.

Please let me know if you want me to send you parts of this report

Regards,

David Renard
mediaIDEAS

This week, global research and advisory firmmediaIDEAS (www.mediaideas.net) announced the launch of a new comprehensive report analyzing and quantifying the opportunities for e-paper e-readers over the next decade. The report, The E-paper E-reader Phenomenon: The Dramatic Growth of a $25B Market, draws together mediaIDEAS’ extensive research and knowledge of e-reader technology and markets.

“E-paper e-readers will be one of the major disruptive technologies of the early 21st century,” said the report’s author, Nick Hampshire, “it will change the nature of publishing and related print industries forever, ushering in a host of innovative ways to present, market, and distribute content.”

The report shows that since the first e-paper e-reader came onto the market in 2004, these devices, with their “green” credentials of reducing paper consumption, have already proved very popular with consumers, and the market for them is accelerating. By 2006, there were 3 types of devices available, by 2007, there were 5, and currently there are over 40. This number will more than double in the next twelve months. Unit sales are also booming. In 2008, 1.1 million e-paper display-based e-readers were sold, in 2010 that number will rise to about 6 million, and by 2020 global annual e-reader sales will reach 446 million units with a value of over $25 billion.

About
mediaIDEAS was created in 2007 by Bob Sacks (Bosacks), President/Publisher of The Precision Media Group, Nick Hampshire, former Senior Partner of AFAICS Research, and David Renard, President of MU Inc. and former Senior Analyst at Gartner Group. Drawing upon over three-quarters of a century of publishing experience, including 22 years providing consultancy services to publishers on a wide range of critical issues, mediaIDEAS helps those involved in the information distribution industry make informed strategic decisions and plan for a more competitive future.

Contact

For further details and inquiries or to sample The E-paper E-reader Phenomenon: The Dramatic Growth of a $25B Market, please visit http://www.mediaideas.net.

You might enjoy the Sports Illustrated prototype as well, which shows more use of video and interactivity, here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntyXvLnxyXk&feature=player_embedded

http://www.idshirt.net