kindle

För nästan precis ett år sedan bloggade jag ut en spådom på Samesamebutdifferent som handlade om läsplattor och deras framtid. Rubriken var ‘Årets julklapp 2010 – vågar vi gissa på en läsplatta?’. Och idag, drygt ett år senare utsåg Handels Utredningsinstitut just läsplattan till årets julklapp 2010.

Årets Julklapp 2010

Då för ett år sedan var det många som tyckte jag var ute och cyklade. Det fanns ju trots allt inga aktörer på den Svenska marknaden än. Inte minst den anonyme kommentatören Art som öppnade med: “Du skämtar va. Läsplattor. Kanske för nån som inte tillbringar 90% av sin vakna tid framför en dator. Jag vill inte ha fler skärmar i min vardag. Papper luktar gott.”

Well Art. Touche’

Så vad blir årets julklapp 2011? Det får jag återkomma till. Idag är jag bara så där lite fnittrig över att få rätt. (ja ja…jag vet, så får man inte säga i Sverige, men det skiter jag i)

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amazon_kindle_dx_modern_reading

The Amazon Kindle DX with a 9.7″ screen was introduced earlier this week. Today more details came out from Engadget. It looks like million bucks and I love it. Apart from my personal feelings for the thin thing from the ‘jungle’ it also makes me think that we’re now getting closer than ever to a digital newspaper (and more of course).

Think about it. If your ordinary morning paper would include one of these in their subscription fee, say you got one for free if you signed up for 24 months, would you still need the actual paper product? I’d check the ‘no real paper’ box immediately. No more fighting about the newspaper pick up on rainy days, the paper would be right there on my breakfast table, updated in real time. Of course I would need two as I don’t wanna get into a fight with my girlfriend over the business and sport pages. Sooner or later we’d get a couple for our kids too. While I’m at it I’d shop a Kindle for my Grandma too.

So why is the newspaper business struggling, why don’t they come up with shit like this? Because they love their paper of course. And what happens? An internet site called Amazon produces a product that automatically makes books available (275 000 titles right now) without any cost of distribution and at the same time they can offer any leading newspaper in the world – for free. It should be the other way around, shouldn’t it?

“Every book you buy is automatically backed up at Amazon.com” – that’s structural binding if anything!

The key here is the fact that Amazon knows the digital world and their product. They’ve created the Kindle meant for people that read text cause that’s what they wanna sell. They’ve not gotten themselves into the fight with portable video players or even notebooks. They’ve focused on their core business and how they can make it available in an ever changing world. Newspapers however, they stick to their guns when it comes to their original product and online they don’t know what to do so they become everything without being good at anything. I mean, in the long run newspaper know how to make a newspaper, they’ve haven’t gotten around to do it in a digital world.

Is this the future for newspapers? I don’t know. But, the first Swedish newspaper that includes one of these in the yearly subscription fee would make me pay more than ever before and that would lead to dramatically lowered distribution costs for that same ‘paper’. On top of that they’d have a direct CRM connection to me as a consumer and could provide targeted advertising. I can think of a million things that I’d pay extra for once they had me set up with credit cards and all…just like the telecom network providers do.

Finally, are you heading a media house with a paper product? Here’s are 21 things for you to write on that ‘typewriter’ of yours!