SEPTEMBER 9, 2008

The Dawn Of The E-Newspaper

The battle of electrons vs. dead trees continues to wage on.

First, there was the e-book reader, of which perhaps the Amazon Kindle is the most famous variety.  While some reports indicate that the Kindle is doing quite well, I have to say that in the past two years I’ve spent riding public transit here in D.C., I’ve seen only one of them. It’s my guess, even as a 30-year-old guy whose information consumption habits skew heavily toward online, that people just like the ease, convenience, cost and even feel of a good old-fashioned book.

But despite the challenges of getting e-book technology to be adopted en masse, The New York Times reported this week that Plastic Logic, an international company whose website brands the organization as a “World Leader in Plastic Electronics”,  revealed the technology for a new, electronic newspaper reader.

According to the Times:

The electronic newspaper, a large portable screen that is constantly updated with the latest news, has been a prop in science fiction for ages. It also figures in the dreams of newspaper publishers struggling with rising production and delivery costs, lower circulation and decreased ad revenue from their paper product.

While the dream device remains on the drawing board, Plastic Logic will introduce publicly on Monday its version of an electronic newspaper reader: a lightweight plastic screen that mimics the look — but not the feel — of a printed newspaper.

The device, which is unnamed, uses the same technology as the Sony eReader and Amazon.com’s Kindle, a highly legible black-and-white display developed by the E Ink Corporation. While both of those devices are intended primarily as book readers, Plastic Logic’s device, which will be shown at an emerging technology trade show in San Diego, has a screen more than twice as large. The size of a piece of copier paper, it can be continually updated via a wireless link, and can store and display hundreds of pages of newspapers, books and documents.

Personally, I think a device of this nature has the potential to take off for exactly the reasons that the Kindle, at least initially, hasn’t. When I’m on the go, the last thing I want to do is read a big, bulky newspaper (usually with inserts falling out) while I stand packed into a crowded train. Something sleek, easy to read, and durable would be a big advantage over my current attempts to read news on my Treo. I already read most of my news electronically - something I don’t do or even want to do with full-length books - so for me, this is actually an upgrade on my existing options. If I were able to personalize my device by drawing from multiple news sources and subscribing to feeds, all the better.

What about you? Do you have an e-book reader? If not, would you want an e-newspaper reader?