Esquire will include an electronic display on the cover of its September issue. The display will use E Ink technology (the same technology used by the Sony Reader and Amazon Kindle) to flash "the 21st Century Begins Now."
The New York Times has the details:
If it does wind up in the Smithsonian, it will need a power source; on its own, the magazine will run out of juice after 90 days. Mr. Granger knows some will see the cover as a gimmick — but he says he thinks the technology behind it, which has been used for supermarket displays but never embedded in a magazine, speaks to the possibilities of print.
“Magazines have basically looked the same for 150 years,” Mr. Granger said. “I have been frustrated with the lack of forward movement in the magazine industry.”
Pointing to the prototype sitting on a conference room table, Mr. Granger said, “The possibilities of print have just begun. In two years, I hope this looks like cellphones did in 1982, or car phones.”
So what do you think? Is this just a gimmick to show that magazines can be chic in the digital age, or is this the beginning of a trend to embed electronic images and pages within printed periodicals?
Discussion
By Michael J on Jul 22, 2008
re: "Is this just a gimmick to show that magazines can be chic in the digital age, or is this the beginning of a trend to embed electronic images and pages within printed periodicals?"
My guess is both. Certainly Esquire and Ford invested the cash to build a buzz and strengthen both brands.
But if this really is version .002, it doesn't seem crazy to think that someday there will be bound epapaper readers. Looks like a magazine or a book, but reloaded from iContent, an offshot of iTunes and YouTube.
By Heidi Tolliver-Nigro on Jul 26, 2008
I agree that "gimmick" is too simple an assessment. If you don't try new technology in the real world, then it remains permanently hypothetical. You have to try it out -- see how it fits -- before you start to figure out where and how it will fit in long-term commercial applications. This is the beginning of the dance to figure out the commercial future of e-ink.