Five of the largest publishing groups in the US are preparing to compete with the Kindle reader Amazon with their own formats that emphasizes colour and will operate in a wider range of devices.
The program involves equal groups of Time Inc., News Corp., Hearst Corp. and Meredith Corp., whose readership reaches a total of 144.6 million people.
The specifications of the new format will be open to other publishers, and the first devices that support computer-tablet, specialised readers and mobile-phones are expected in 2010, said the head of the program.
Time Inc. has prepared a video showing how a future electronic edition of the magazine Sports Illustrated would look like.
The announcement comes shortly after the negative comments on Kindle by the media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, chief executive of News Corp. The successful device by Amazon “is a fantastic invention for reading newspapers but is not a very good experience for newspapers", he said.
News Corp., earns just over one third of the monthly subscription of $14.99 for the electronic edition of the Wall Street Journal sold by Amazon but doesn’t have full access to valuable users data.
The new format will not only be more profitable for publishers, but it is better adapted to their publications. In contrast to the black & white technology of Kindle (E-Ink), the new format will follow the order of pages as well as the graphics of journals and newspapers.
Image source: Sports Illustrated
