all things design
15 June 2010
Will the Printed Page Become Obsolete?
With the rise of the tablet electronic readers and tablet computers, one has to ask the question, “Will the printed page become obsolete?” Will the magazines, newspapers and books of the future all be electronic? Is that future just around the corner?
We are witnessing the proliferation of electronic readers like Amazon’s Kindle, Sony’s PRX-700, Barns & Noble’s Nook and now Apple’s newest release, the tablet that is really a computer, the iPad. Their main function (excluding the iPad) is to download books, magazines, newspapers and articles to be stored and read at the consumer’s leisure on small screen where one can enlarge the print, change the font and generally set parameters for optimal personal viewing. Most are connected to the internet via WiFi or over the 3G wireless cell phone network allowing direct access to online bookstores where thousands of books, newspapers and magazines are digitally available. And, all of these were formerly printed on paper. While the cost of these e-readers is still rather high, envision a time in the near future when a bundle of subscriptions to your favorite magazines or newspapers comes with an e-reader.
The Kindle and now the larger Kindle DX are arguably the most successful of the e-readers for book and newspaper content. Their direct connection to Amazon’s vast library of books and newspapers makes them uniquely situated in the e-reader market. The only area that the Kindle and other e-readers fall down in is color. Right now all e-readers except the iPad are grayscale displays and, while that is fine for books and newspapers, can you image viewing your favorite full color, high resolution magazine in basic black and white? This could be where the iPad edges out the other others for today’s electronic ink display dominance. More likely, the next generations of e-readers will be full high-resolution color so you can read your Vogue or People with all the impact of the printed magazine. These displays are on every manufacturer’s drawing board and should be showing up in retail stores in the next couple
of years.
One added benefit to the proliferation of electronic readers is that less natural resources will be used to create the paper needed for the printed page. On the other side of the coin is the print industry. The costs for print and distributing print publications have soared and at the same time, advertising revenue and subscriber rates are dropping. Some newspapers and print magazines won’t be able to survive in the current economy. As always with new technology, some industries will benefit, some will adapt and some will cease to exist. Also with new technologies, if it works, someone will probably come up with something that does it better. Such might be the case with the iPad versus e-readers. Then again, in five years they both might be overshadowed by some new technology that does it all and does it better.
Will the printed page become obsolete? I think it will, but, it won’t be for a while. People still enjoy flipping the pages of their full color magazines or sitting on a beach enjoying a paperback book.
When the technology advances to the point where it’s easy to carry a small e-reader device that delivers big reading pleasure, then, you can bet that the printed page will join the ranks of VHS tapes and vinyl albums.
‘til next time, take care.
Bob
