It is being reported all over the internet right now that Bezos said that a color version of the Kindle won’t hit the market for years. It was apparently said during a shareholder meeting. *I* think that it is pretty devastating to consumers of ebooks and ebook technology to hear something like that. The newspaper industry is taking a beating, mainly because they haven’t adequately transitioned over to the Internet as a revenue generator. That is mainly because consumers can find all of the information they need without subscribing to a print publication. The way they do gain back readership is by providing a unique experience, and one way is to make everything as dynamic as the web but on a platform that can be taken with the consumer. That would be a Kindle [or similar product], and it is necessary to be just as colorful and high resolution as the desktop. I do everything on my iPhone now. I don’t need to carry a laptop around, and I’d only sacrifice my portability for an ereader now if it was a color e-ink screen because the iPhone has horrible battery life. Once you turn wifi on, the battery is done in a work day.
So, what have I learned today? No color Kindle, no reason to purchase a current generation Kindle, newspapers are taking a beating, no reason to subscribe to a newspaper when reporting is done for free on the internet [not by newspapers, just regular joe's], and there is no mechanism around the corner that encourages newspapers to adopt the e-reader/e-ink technology while information is being put on the internet for free.
The one caveat for newspapers, are the reporters, and it is the reporters who are suffering… not the newspapers. Newspapers organizations are akin to the RIAA in that they deliver the content that is generated by reporters in the field. If there were ways to compensate the reporter directly, like some sites do with paying unsigned musicians directly, well then reporters would be in charge of their own destiny. Not to mention increased competition.
It is an interesting exercise to think about. What exactly will be the harm if newspapers become secondary to the internet? There is a lot of discussion, but no one really knows. Lost wages? Not really when you think that people are moving to the internet. I’ll keep thinking about this and come back to the topic. There is a lot more here to consider…
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