Content Players Go Print, Print Goes Mobile, Mobile Goes Mad!
I just got a new mp3 player. It is small, it is sharp, and I can do things on it that they would never have dreamed of in 1985. (I know, this is not really an impressive claim.) I also know that you don’t care about other people’s new gadgets – unless it is a product that you yourself are thinking of buying, and then you’ll read about a trillion reviews of it before you purchase. Or at least 1 in 4 of you will.
But let me tell you of one of the key features on this little guy that many of you all-in-one-rs out there might relate to. It’s the text reader. When I first saw it, I was like, oh cool. I can read stuff on-the-go. Granted, you’re not going to be poring over a 12-page brief on a tiny little screen, or read Baudolino in 100-word spurts. Or are you?
Amazon, not willing to give in to the Sony Reader, or the countless other gadgets out there with text capabilities, has come out with a $399 Kindle — a replacement for that long-honored but perhaps tired item, The Book. "Books are the last bastion of analog," declared Amazon’s Jeff Kozos to a Newsweek reporter. The article, which explores the concept of making long-form reading truly digital. A debate will surely ensue.
Some Newsweek readers have already pointed out their issues with it, like lack of illustrations (rendering books about Frank Lloyd Wright or Michelangelo practically useless) or that ‘glue, ink, and paper’ feel. Other more practical issues are those of cost: like many first-generation models, there are kinks in the woodwork and people will most likely hold out for reworked versions rather than jump to buy their dears a Kindle for this holiday season. Strange, too, their marketing campaign. It hasn’t reached anybody who’s anybody, as far as I can see. In fact, just this morning I received the High-Tech Gift for the Holidays from Amazon and guess what’s not on their Top 20 list? Right on. Their own Kindle.
In the same vein, but slightly more interesting, is what’s going on in China with digital books. Moshimo Komiga, a twisting tale of high school romance, was composed entirely on a mobile phone by an "avid texter" named Rin. It’s been done before, but now more first-timers are embracing the format. Sounds about right for China, who is gobbling up technology like a starved cat. And not hesitating to put themselves really out there. Out there, as in online. An IAC/JWT study (via CNN Money) showed that Chinese youth are leaping ahead even American youth in their consumption and personal expression through digital channels.
‘Twill be interesting to see what happens as the Tweens – who are actually spending more time on their mobiles, and less time on the Internet than the Teens – grow up and gain more spending power. Mobile marketing may be it. And text readers, combined with mobile phone technology, may be even it-ter.
