When Amazon’s Kindle DX, a multi-purpose version of its digital eBook reader was unveiled in late Spring ‘09, I wrote in a blog dated May 7, that the debut of that device could very well be the “knight in shining armor” that would save the beleaguered newspaper industry.  It didn’t, as yet, but it certainly is on its way to boost the book publishing industry.  Most newspapers can still be had for free.

Now, just six months later, publishers are making big plans for another potential savior, one that has yet to hit the marketplace.

Rumor has it that the much speculated and anticipated Tablet due to be created by Apple (who has yet to confirm that it is even being worked on) has publishers salivating at the opportunity for salvation. Publishers are in the throes of making big plans and spending big money for a device that has yet to come to market.

First it was Condé Nast, who announced they are preparing a digital version of Wired magazine for the Apple Tablet by the middle of next year, followed by its other 18 titles. And now it’s Time Inc. that has just released a video demonstration of a “tabletized” Sports Illustrated.

Magazine reading will now be as much about watching and browsing and choosing video elements, as reading, in essence delivering information and the interactive experience that is already available on the Internet, but within a new portable format.

It’s not clear how the Apple Tablet would be publishers’ salvation as yet.  Just as newspapers’ continue their struggle to monetize their content when it can be had for free on the Web, why would a magazine thrive on a tablet, when it too can be had for free?

Digital magazines are not the same as books, read Amazon’s Kindle or music, read iTunes, — neither of which offers content that can be had for free elsewhere.  If digital magazines will not be totally supported by advertising, as I suspect they won’t, then clearly they will need to seek subscribers for their digital versions and charge, as Amazon does per book, per magazine.  And what would be the lure to spend for what can be had free?

The only answer that seems plausible today is that it becomes a lifestyle choice, as in convenience when traveling or on the go — a take-along choice, with 30 or so, favorite titles, on one tablet.  In that sense it would simulate Amazon’s Kindle, which is also a lifestyle choice, with the difference that lifestyle choice or not, the books are not free.

Still, Apple may have something else in mind helping publishers monetize as they did for music publishers and developers in the app store.

Watch them swoop in, as anticipated, and grab the publishing world by storm, much like they did the music world.

Labor Day is usually the marker for the end of summertime. Still, reflecting on summer there are good memories that we can retain through the photos taken, videos shot and books read. And then there are the not-so-good memories of having lost the drag-along-must-have gadgets that we were “stupid” enough to leave behind on planes, cruise lines, car seats and what not.

Oh well, in this digital age, manufacturers can keep tabs on them, so chances of retrieval are high – you would think.

Not so quick…

According to the New York Times, September 7 article titled Gadget Makers Can Find Thief, but Don’t Ask, manufacturers know exactly who has a missing or stolen device, because in many instances it has been registered to a new user – but they won’t do anything about it.

The problem escalated recently with the loss of an Amazon e-reader, Kindle. Obviously the owner asked to have his account canceled so that nobody could charge books to his credit card. Then he asked Amazon to put the serial number of his wayward device on a kind of do-not-register list that would render it inoperable — to “brick it” in tech speak. He got no response.

Apparently Amazon’s policy on stolen Kindles insists on a “police call with a search warrant,” before they disclose any information about who the owners are of the missing devices. It goes so far that even that in this case the owner’s simple request to shut down the service so that thieves could not use his stolen gadget, was turned down.

You go figure as to whether a police officer is going to go to the trouble to create a search warrant for gadgets that may cost a few hundred dollars.

Amazon clearly has a new public relations dilemma. It’s not the first time. Last July, Amazon had its customers in a rowdy snit when it remotely deleted titles from Kindles, citing copyright reasons. Now Amazon is playing it safe, but that’s no way to endear it to its e-reader community.

Here’s public relations advice to Amazon: it will be far cheaper in the long run for you to keep your customers loyal and happy, which can be done by simply having a blacklist of registered devices. Or you could include a request form with every Kindle sale, to inform Amazon within 24 hours when a Kindle is sold to a new user. Or you could forget about hiding behind the useless “legal “route (seeking a police report) and find a myriad of ways to show your concern to your customer.

C’mon, if you could catch the thief, would you? So should Amazon…

In Camelot, it was the knight in shining armor that saved the princess, locked away in the tower.

With yesterday’s unveiling of Amazon’s Kindle DX, a new multi-purpose version of its digital eBook reader, the beleaguered newspaper industry may very well have its “own knight in shining armor” as quoted from a pre-launch article by Brad Stone in the International Herald Tribune (IHN) and The New York Times on May 5.  According to Stone’s report, Amazon is first in line to potentially save newspapers as in “throwing an electronic life preserver to old-media companies.”

Maybe…

As opposed to the launch of Kindle 1 last February (labeled as ‘experimental’ by the firm), which had skeptics wondering about large-scaled adoption of the device, the Kindle DX was launched with a “safety net” so to speak.  Even before yesterday’s announcement, several high-circulation newspapers including The New York Times, The Boston Globe and The Washington Post had planned pilots with Kindle DX for this coming summer, where they would offer the device at a reduced price to readers who live in areas where home-delivery is not available, and who sign up for a long-term subscription to the Kindle edition of the newspapers.

But I don’t get it.  How do you continue to convince people to pay for subscriptions when most publications have their material freely available on the Web?

Reality is, freely available or not, many of us still pay for subscriptions today, anyway.  Print publications have always offered something tangible and comfortable — as in holding a newspaper or magazine in our hands with our morning coffee, or sharing an article with a fellow commuter, or simply enjoying the rustling sound of turning pages, folding down corners to mark a page, etc.

Old habits die-hard.  Time will tell whether consumers will migrate to reading from tablet-like devices or not, and how quickly…

However, for newspapers, the potential for huge cost savings from the discontinuation of printing and distribution alone, may be just the “second chance” that they need.  Several similarly-positioned devices are due to hit the market in the next 12-months, with other offerings reported to be in the works by the likes of News Corp., the magazine publisher Hearst, and upstart Plastic Logic.

The concept becomes very attractive when you hear Amazon’s Chief Executive Jeff Bezos’ comment, “With the Kindle DX, you get to carry all your documents and your whole library in one slender package.”

How convenient and efficient.  These, may just be the drivers for consumer adoption…