IFRA Press Releases - Newspapers want working devices, less hype

Newspapers want working devices, less hype

As Ifra’s eNews 2008 project visits Tokyo, participating publishers are looking forward to market-ready e-readers

Darmstadt/Tokyo, 23 August 2006 – Ifra’s eNews 2008 initiative, set up to help publishers create business in the coming e-reading world, is nearing the end of its first year. The project now has 27 member companies; 23 publishers and four technology suppliers, from 11 European countries, Japan and the USA. This week, the eNews 2008 member companies are in the Japanese capital in order to meet, and visit the leading mobile and e-reading technology developers.

Since the launch of eNews, and particularly in the past six months, the interest in e-reader technology and applications has exploded in international media – from specialised trade magazines to big national dailies. While this has provided the Ifra initiative with a lot of welcome coverage, not all the articles published have been as well researched and founded in reality as project leader Dr Stig Nordqvist might have hoped: “E-readers have been hyped quite a lot in the press this past spring. In the last year we have seen a promising development in e-paper displays, black and white with rich contrast, good improvements in speed in for example the E Ink v2.5\2.6 and Bridgestone QRP technology. We have also seen colour filter solutions from interesting new alternatives, for example Fujitsu. Despite all this, I still think that the e-reader devices so far are disappointing.”

During the visit to Tokyo, Mr Kenichi Shiraishi of Sony talked to the eNews 2008 participants about the eBook market, stating that the reason the e-reading market is still so small is that “there is no good device on the market yet, optimised for reading. And there is no good content management system either.” Commented Meredith Artley of the International Herald Tribune: “The more you [the technology developers] can focus on news at this point, the more friends you will make in the publishing industry. The more options and flexibility in terms of format, the more interesting it is going to be to sum up and cooperate with you in this context.”

The publishers taking part in the eNews 2008 initiative are working actively to prepare themselves to take advantage of the new e-reader medium, when it becomes reality. However, to date the technology needed to launch services to readers is not there, despite promises from suppliers such as iRex Technologies, an eNews member, which was due to launch its iLiad e-reader in April. The devices are now on the market, but do not work satisfactorily. Dr Nordqvist says: “We have had serious problems with the earliest release of the iLiad. The speed is too slow to be acceptable, and so far this is not really a consumer’s product. Worse than the speed is the user interface, which I find illogical.”

In addition to the two days in Tokyo spent meeting with and hearing presentations from the leading e-reading technology developers and the two leading Japanese mobile operators, KDDI and NTT DoCoMo, during their week in the Japanese capital the eNews 2008 members will spend three days in a seminar, including workshops and speakers, among them representatives of the Japanese mobile success story – from content providers to mobile payment companies. Dr Stig Nordqvist adds: “When the technology falls into place, whether the devices become more like mobile phones, tablet-PCs or like a future version of the iLiad, i.e. an e-reading device, we strongly believe that there is a huge consumer market for e-reading content.”

The eNews 2008 project will run for another two years, during which time activities will include further seminars, study tours and commissioning of consumer research.

eNews Project members
Publishing members:
Bonnier/Expressen (Sweden), De Telegraaf (The Netherlands), dpa (Germany), Edipresse Publications (Switzerland), Frankfurter Rundschau (Germany), Georg von Holtzbrinck GmbH & Co. (Germany), Libération (France), Mainichi Shimbun (Japan), New York Times Company (USA), Nordjyske Medier (Denmark), Orkla Media (Norway), PrisaCom/El País (Spain), Rheinisch-Bergische Verlagsgesellschaft (Germany), Sanoma Corp. (Finland), Schibsted/Aftonbladet (Norway/Sweden), Stampen/Göteborgs-Posten (Sweden), Styria Medien (Austria), Tamedia AG (Switzerland), Telegraph Group (UK), Tribune Interactive (USA), Vorarlberger Zeitungsverlag und Druckerei (Austria), Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung (Germany), Yomiuri Shimbun (Japan).
Technology members:
Arena Partners (Finland), iRex Technologies (The Netherlands), Escenic (Norway), Plastic Logic Limited (UK).

For more information about the eNews project contact Cecilia Campbell, project communicator at +44 15394 35012 or campbell@ifra.com.

About Ifra:
Ifra (www.ifra.com) is the world's leading organisation for newspaper and media publishing with 10 locations worldwide. It has been registered since 1961 as an association with headquarters in Darmstadt, Germany, and acts as the platform for decision-makers from the newspaper industry. A Board, comprising publishers as well as central, regional and specialised committees drawn from Ifra member companies, steers the work of the association. Ifra publishes the trade magazine newspaper techniques monthly in four languages (English, French, German and Spanish – www.ifra-nt.com) and quarterly in Chinese. The IfraExpo – “the annual event of the newspaper industry” – held at major European venues is the world's most important trade exhibition for newspaper companies and their partners. IfraExpo 2006 will be held from 9 to 12 October in Amsterdam (www.ifraexpo.com). Research and standardisation, international conferences, seminars, training events and consulting are further components of the service Ifra offers primarily to its more than 3000 members in about 80 countries.

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