Newspaper execs have been looking for something to come along to save the industry. And now, lo and behold, all hail the electronic newspaper reader!
Similar to the Kindle, which Amazon introduced last year for books and other periodicals, this product from a company called Plastic Logic, will allow people to get their newspapers zapped to them each morning, and they can take it with them everywhere.
While it will provide valuable information to newspaper execs and to advertisers about who the readers are and what they are reading, the technology is not quite there yet.
A story in the New York Times today carries this important paragraph:
Newspaper companies have watched the technology closely for years. The ideal format, a flexible display that could be rolled or folded like a newspaper, is still years off, says E Ink. But it foresees color displays with moving images and interactive clickable advertising coming in only a few more years, according to Sriram K. Peruvemba, vice president for marketing for E Ink.
My question, of course, is will the technology come quickly enough to help newspapers retain their readers in this electronic age?
