Vince Kern on Digital Delivery

What are the benefits of digital delivery for newspapers, magazines, books and other publications?

VK: The most obvious benefit (as nascent digital platforms such as e-readers, new tablets, iPad etc. enter the market to complement desktops, laptops, netbooks and notebooks and the like) for publishers is availability where consumers want the content and it being available when they want it. Aside from the immediacy of access these products provide publishers, they also reduce the costs of distributing the content by streamlining processes.

While I don’t see the printed product going away entirely in the next five to 10 years, we’re already seeing the transformation to digital from print enter its mid-stage development. Once some of the questions are answered about who will succeed in providing a device that most readers will find robust for multi-tasking and reading, we’ll see a quicker transition away from these costs. Smart publishers will reinvest a good portion of that divestment into resources to provide even more trusted and desired content consumers are demanding. Publishers who thrive will also be investing resources into the innovation and transformation component of R&D.

What are the drawbacks?

VK: The biggest drawback is the ticking clock. It remains to be seen which business models will emerge as successful for content providers in this new universe of providers, procurers and platforms. The pay-per-tune music model works largely because consumers were already conditioned to pay for music and most felt like they were stealing if getting it for free. But (and this is a whole other discussion) news is in a different place in consumers’ minds, I think. We’re seeing all of this play out via Amazon, Apple, and each of the companies that have developed models whereby those companies own the customer relationship.

Newspapers need to retain more of the slight monetary portion that subscriptions across these devices might garner and, as importantly, be the owner of the relationship with the customer. And until some of the companies like Skiff, Olive, LibreDigital and others who want to serve as a one-stop shop for publishers come online with their pricing and services, we won’t know how this plays out. Meantime, consumers may well get increasingly used to newspapers, magazines and book publishers being on the fringe.

What are the benefits of digital delivery for readers?

VK: We’ve already seen how digital delivery to computer and mobile platforms has increased ease of consumption for newspapers, magazines, books and a host of content, games, etc. What large screen e-readers bring to the table are design and interface factors consumers are discovering since iPads have been released. The same touch screen navigation can be designed for Skiff, Que and other large screen e-readers and readers can simply tap on section buttons to navigate from section to story to ad, etc. ... it is very much like a print experience with the benefit of a digital and intuitive UI.

So, while many of these e-readers are not yet to market, they will provide options for consumers who want to read on e-ink rather than LED screens. The transportability factor is improved, the devices are light and multifunctional and some can handle e-mail, calendar and document storage needs. All of this is exciting, but I balance my optimism for the success of many of these devices in the answer to your next question. Again, if publishers can transform their models to these platforms, readers may benefit from greater resources reinvested in the journalism operations.

(Editor's note: UI means user interface.)

 

What are the drawbacks?

VK: Right now, I see two drawbacks to consumers using the type of digital devices we're talking about here. The first is price and the second is the time lag between early adopters and a mass demand for this type of device. The Plastic Logic Que ProReader is a fabulous device, for instance. But (when it is finally released) can it attract enough of its stated market (business users) to pay upwards of $600 for a device that renders only in black and white and does not have nearly the multi-function purpose as an iPad?

I believe we will see e-readers (smaller ones and perhaps some of the Sony products) continue to fall in price and there is a good likelihood that by fall there will be quality readers for under $100, but again, what do consumers want the devices for? Books only? Books and ``news?’’ I find very few individuals not in the business in my travels who are not confused by all of this nascent technology, young and old alike.

And if publishers do not reinvest in journalism, there are plenty of folks out there already providing high-quality local journalism such as Howard Owens at www.thebatavian.com who will continue to forge the future for readers. Unfortunately, and this should be of grave concern, the national and world news coverage will become even more watered down and synthesized from limited sources.
 

Do you think there will come a point when many newspapers and magazines will have to switch totally to digital delivery to survive, as they would avoid the substantial costs for printing and delivery?

VK: I really don’t see this happening for some time. People still love the printed product and will pay for it. You’d be surprised how many folks between 30 and 50 still want to read the newspaper. Perhaps not as often, but they do not want it to go away.

Does that mean I think newspapers and magazines will continue in the same format? No. I think the next phase in the print world is something that is happening in Europe right now: Print time on presses between runs is being brokered to small independent publishers and these ``micro’’ newspapers are being snapped up in quantities up to 50,000 or so. But these newspapers and magazines are more niche oriented and small independent and separate businesses, not major conglomerates trying to cover a broad base. I think it will be at least 10 years before the tablet, e-reader and still-to-come platforms become commonplace.

And there will be so many new independent services (bandwidth, content, app procurement, music procurement etc.) that will be aggregated into a business model of one-stop shopping that it will take some time to truly shift. Right now, I see ideas being far ahead of the ability to bring much of this stuff to market in this global down economy and there are few risk takers emerging such as there were at the beginning of the .com days.

You have said that much research has yet to be done on consumer preferences for various e-reader styles and features. Do you foresee a time when one kind of e-reader can handle everything, or will there have to be a specific model for books, another for newspapers, perhaps another for magazines and scholarly publications?

VK: I think it is a definite possibility that a particular device might become the standard, but I don’t see it happening for two reasons: The first is consumer preferences are now so varied among people even within a particular age group that marketers have many opportunities to provide products across feature sets. The days of one-function devices (like radio or television) are gone and we humans are not all asking for the same experience. So while I think it can be done, I don’t think it will happen. And I also believe that there are future platforms that are yet to be developed that will further diversify this behavioral trend.

Is this nation at the starting point of digital delivery, in the middle of it or at a sophisticated stage? Is there something important that has to be developed technologically for digital delivery and e-readers to advance?

VK: I think (in regard to e-readers, tablets and mobile) we are just hitting the middle of the beginning if I had to be specific. I think mobile and the next iterations of what the web and devices can do is really the thing to watch. I see devices changing rapidly and drastically over the next decade. Soon, all cars will have the ability to provide audio e-mails, news, content and other transactions that are now being outlawed while driving. One needs to ask, ``What will happen from there?’’ The technology gap between generations is being reduced yearly. What a 10-year-old today grew up with in terms of technology is vastly different than a 5-year-old.

Is there anything else you'd like to say about digital delivery and e-readers?

VK: Yes. Having been a journalist and working in the media business for over 25 years, I see too much divisiveness and even mean-spirited  ``I know better than you about the future of journalism and which platform will survive’’ among our ranks. When ``experts’’ espouse encampment by referring to anyone at a newspaper as a ``printie’’ (the inference is dinosaur, not with it, etc.,) and print folks sneer at digital folks as not true to the craft, we have a bigger problem than whether e-readers or iPad will be good or bad for the industry. We do a disservice to the community we are all here to serve and protect with the truth and give consumers even more reasons to distrust the media. There needs to be more unification in common cause these days because it is more important than ever to embrace the survival of journalism.

The Detroit Media Partnership is the business agent for the JOA between the Detroit News and Detroit Free Press. Vince previously was operations director for the partnership, managing editor of the Daily Californian in El Cajon, Calif. and director of systems for the New York Post. His colleges: Wayne State University and Northern Michigan University.