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Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Amazon Kindle: Newspaper friend or foe?

The new Amazon Kindle is out and the electronic paper reader seems to be getting better and better:

The Kindle DX features a larger screen (two and a half times the size of the Kindle 2), a built-in PDF reader, and enhanced Internet navigation. It also has more storage than the Kindle 2 - Amazon says it will hold up to 3,500 books compared with 1,500 with the Kindle 2. It sells for $489, compared to $359 for the Kindle 2. READ THE REST

But is the Kindle out to help the future of newspapers? Most would probably say yes. It will transition paper and ink to the electronic age! But then you start digging further and that might not be the case. Read what Dallas Morning News Publisher and CEO James Moroney said in a U.S. Senate subcommittee hearing:

“The Kindle, which I think is a marvelous device, the best deal Amazon will give the Dallas Morning News>—and we’ve negotiated this up to the last two weeks—they want 70 percent of the subscriptions revenue. I get 30 percent, they get 70 percent. On top of that they have said we get the right to republish your intellectual property to any portable device. Now is that a business model that is going to work for newspapers? I get 30 percent and they get the right to license my content to any portable device—not just ones made by Amazon? That, to me, is not a model." READ THE REST

Now I understand why Hearst (Houston Chronicle owner) is trying to build its own electronic reader device! CONTACT: Leave me a Houston or Texas media news tip | COMMENT: Click to leave your thoughts on this post here