One of the trends that we in the PR biz are observing is the rapid decline of print publications. InfoWorld was the latest to stop producing a print edition and go solely online. It's not likely to be the last.
For those of us who have stacks of magazine lying around our homes and offices, this isn't necessarily a good thing. There are plenty of times when I don't want to be sitting at my desk in order to read the latest edition of the Economist. Maybe I want to read when I'm lying in bed, on the train or at the doctor's office. PCs aren't really great for this. Even laptops are too big and clunky compared to a magazine.
That's where the new Nokia N800 Internet tablet might just be the thing. At the Web 2.0 conference, Nokia was out in force hyping this gadget. After playing with it for a while, I'm convinced that this device, or something like it, will be the way we'll consume information in the future. For more detail, read CNET's review here. If the Web and New Media are really going to be ubiquitous, we need better ways of accessing content than just sitting at a desk staring at a monitor.
This device is designed primarily as a tool for surfing the Web and can provide a rich multi-media experience, just like what you get with a PC (or an iPod). It's small and light so you can take it anywhere. I could see using this to catch up on the news and my favorite bloggers over a cup of coffee and a bagel. Compared to print, I have the added option of being able to write my own posts, or add comments.
Beyond the news, essential services are moving online. A great example is electronic signatures from our client DocuSign. With this gadget I could "DocuSign" documents from just about anywhere.
Cell phones and PDAs miss the mark with screens that are too small and use sub-standard, non-standard Web browsers. Consider too that the N800 runs a Nokia version of Linux, so pretty much anything you can with a Linux desktop, you'll be able to do on the go. The iPhone may offer similar capabilities, but Apple's iron-fisted control will be a negative.
Once these gadgets go mainstream in the next few years, look for the trend to online-only editions to accelerate. The cost and environmental impact of print and paper will be harder and harder to justify. I, for one, am not complaining.
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