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Hearst Launching Kindle Competitor and Platform "By Publishers, For Publishers"

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the thinking-bigger-picture dept.

The Hearst Corporation has announced their intention to launch an e-reader competitor to Amazon's Kindle and a supporting store and platform that is much more "publisher friendly." More details are available form their official press release this morning. "Launching in 2010, Skiff provides a complete e-reading solution that includes the Skiff Service platform, Skiff Store and Skiff-enabled devices. Skiff will sell and distribute newspapers, magazines, books, blogs and other content. Skiff gives periodical publishers tools to maintain their distinct visual identities, build and extend relationships with subscribers, and deliver dynamic content and advertising to a range of dedicated e-readers and multipurpose devices."

8 of 155 comments (clear)

  1. Publisher friendly? by Maximum+Prophet · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Translates to: Screw the authors & screw the customers.

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    1. Re:Publisher friendly? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Exactly what I thought. As a customer, why do I want a platform that caters, not to me or the author, but to the publisher?

    2. Re:Publisher friendly? by Chyeld · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Executive Summary: We are out of our frigging minds and don't realize this is going to bomb faster than the orginal DIVX.

    3. Re:Publisher friendly? by timeOday · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Translates to: Screw the authors & screw the customers.

      Are you so sure? Alienating customers won't help publishers any, since they're where the money comes from. I'm sure the prevailing slashdot assumption will be that publishers somehow fail to realize this, but I doubt that. The fact is, both parties in any business transaction are participating for their own benefit; that doesn't preclude rational self interest, i.e. providing value, too.

      So here is why this might work: Skiff eliminates a middleman, namely Amazon. Thus consumers could end up paying less, while publishers (and even writers) get more. You can go on all you like about how evil and stupid publishers are, but they're already part of the process; the only difference is, no Amazon. What if Skiff ends up a lot like Kindle, but with a lower price for professionally written and edited content?

    4. Re:Publisher friendly? by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Translates to: Screw the authors & screw the customers.

      Many don't know that copyright in England was originally put in place to protect the authors from the publishers, not the readers with their pirate ink plates.

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  2. great for publi$her$? by L3370 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    More competition and new products entering the E-reader market? Awesome. I love it

    If they think I'm still going to pay the price of a hardcover book for nothing but a digital copy that can be revoked from my reader, I'M STILL NOT BUYING THIS JUNK.

  3. Even worse by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    The unit has two spikes that can deploy on command/DRM violation, rendering the user blind.

    But it does have a nice display.

  4. Sounds nice... by calmofthestorm · · Score: 4, Insightful

    targeted ads, complete publisher control. Where can I pick mine up, and how much will I get paid per month to use it?

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