Today, Hearst has announced (http://tinyurl.com/cy9zmu) that they are likely to come out with their own Kindle. What a bad idea. Sorry Hearst. You have great content, but why on earth would a user want to have multiple reading devices. Am I missing something here?
Yes they say that the size will be different to accommodate print size, but are they listening to the customer? Is there going to be a Kindle for every potential reading footprint? Are we consumers going to live with that?
Hardly.
Time and again, publishers have sought to control or differentiate on their delivery of the content and almost every time, if not every time, they fail because the user is not interested in proprietary delivery devices.
That is why the Net has been so successful — there is one delivery vehicle that everyone uses. And Flash for video — sorry Microsoft — is the delivery vehicle for video. No need for me as a user to download multiple players.
And if Hearst believes that the footprint of their magazine dictates the need for a different reader, I say no way. The footprint should meet the convenience of the user, not the other way around.
I hope they kill this before they get started.