Brian GarnerDubbed Skiff, Hearst Corp.'s planned digital periodical distribution portal is poised to rival Amazon's Kindle store at providing virtual newspapers and magazines to a variety of electronic devices. Hearst wants to create a full service system with a digital storefront along with a distribution back-end to allow publishers to easily deliver content.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Skiff has been in development for more than two years. Several other companies have signed on to be part of the service alongside Hearst's newspapers and magazines, but have not yet been named.
"The platforms and devices that other people are building are not really appropriate for newspapers and magazines," Kenneth A. Bronfin, president of Hearst Interactive Media reportedly said. "We are going to create an entity by publishers for publishers."
Skiff is also reportedly developing its own digital media device using Sprint Nextel Corp's wireless network to deliver content. Hearst said that it will offer subscriptions on some other e-readers as well as netbooks and smartphones - including Apple's iPhone.
Hearst competitor Time Inc. recently demoed an example of its digital magazine format that may compete with Skiff as a platform. It was reported several weeks ago that rumors had surfaced over the creation of plans for a multi-publisher iTunes-like digital store for selling magazines which seems would also be a competitor to this service.
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31 Comments
I imagine Apple was pitching an iTunes for magazines and newspapers idea; from the recent news it looks like Time and Hearst, at least, are interested in going it on their own. Understandable, if Apple's pitch included the kind of device/vendor lock-in that iTunes has managed for music, but it's also that lock-in that helped push legal downloads past their infancy.
But now these publishers need to be careful. If each one of them comes up with a different format and distribution model, they'll needlessly hamper widespread adoption of digital periodicals, just like they were doing with music before Apple came along.
No more "Read all about it!" heard on a street corner ...
oops showing my age with that joke!
So true on the rival formats - we have seen that fail so often. Maybe some will try both Apple and their own in parallel unless SJ says it's iTunes only or nothing. My money is on Apple pulling out ahead fast though, they have been planning this a long time and not rushed to market by any stretch of the imagination. Apple could have come up with a Kindle killer a while back. They have something totally new up their sleeves IMHO.
Heh.
Apple has talked to the publishers just like they talked to the cell phone companies.
And they are scared shitless.
Good luck Hearst. :loll:
Because I for one know that I will not be purchasing an electronic device from a magazine publisher.
I imagine Apple was pitching an iTunes for magazines and newspapers idea; from the recent news it looks like Time and Hearst, at least, are interested in going it on their own. Understandable, if Apple's pitch included the kind of device/vendor lock-in that iTunes has managed for music, but it's also that lock-in that helped push legal downloads past their infancy.
But now these publishers need to be careful. If each one of them comes up with a different format and distribution model, they'll needlessly hamper widespread adoption of digital periodicals, just like they were doing with music before Apple came along.
It sure seems like Apple may have been pitching to publishers as the rumours stated, but if they haven?t it wouldn?t be the first time technologic symmetry has occurred. Is there a name for that phenomenon?
Now in the digital age the instant exchange of ideas both in text and imagery makes can potentially make this even more common to the point of being synergistic (if I can use that term here).
I admit that I didn?t see how a tablet computer would be a viable device for a couple years of Ireland posting mockups. I conceive of the newspapers and magazines offering subscriptions or textbook publishers offering digital books with an OS with integrated mark up to mimic the benefits of a physical book. I only saw the Mac OS X UI that was pasted on it and kept thinking about how much Windows on a tablet is simply wrong and wouldn?t work.
Is the iTunes LP and Extras formats the format that Apple will be pushing with HTML5, CSS and JS at the core? This does allow for each publisher to make their own pages as they see fit, so long as they are using open standards, yet allows for Apple (or other vendors) to DRM the content either as a package like iPhone apps or just the media content within. The iTunes LP and Extras submission process is said be going full automated early next year. Is this just in time for the tablet to start shipping? (obviously these questions are rhetorical)