Will the Amazon Kindle Save Newspapers?

I just purchased a new Amazon-created Kindle electronic reader. I'm optimistic about the possibility of the device - and the e-readers that are expected to follow -- to help keep people reading the news, but will they be able to save the much-beleaguered newspaper?

Newspapers and magazines are trying to figure out how to sell subscriptions to their digital content.  I am aware of all the roadblocks to success.  We’re now so used to reading news online for free, why would anyone agree to pay for news anymore? I remember when cable TV was introduced.  The nay-sayers all said that no one would actually pay for television programming when the three networks were giving it away for free.  Now look at your monthly cable bill.  Even though cable is now a commodity, I willingly fork over extra fees for premium cable services each month.  Why?  There’s content there that I can’t get anywhere else.

I may be more generous than some about the promise of subscriptions for digital content to keep newspapers afloat. Publishers believe that with a better delivery system, and with better, easier-to-use devices, people will pay. USA Today recently said it was preparing a subscription-only e-edition http://www.mediapost.com/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=106932 that will be released in late summer because the company sees real promise in mobile readers.

Since Amazon has not released sales numbers for the Kindle, it’s hard to know whether or not there’s a big enough customer base right now to make the subscription model viable. The iPhone has proven to be a powerful business platform for all sorts of content, including free newspaper content.  The free The New York Times iPhone app is said to have been downloaded 2 million times.  Reading The Times on the iPhone isn’t easy.  A bigger, better screen is certainly preferable and I, for one, am willing to pay for it.

So, I’m excited to receive my Kindle. Sure, it won’t be backlit or have flashy color photos or video, or, like newspaper websites, those annoying pop-up windows where bees in an animated advertisement fly across my screen before I can read a headline.  The E-Ink display technology used in the Kindle can’t handle color or show video.  It’s unlikely whether E-Ink will have that technology ready to go before the next two years, reported Time http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1895737,00.html magazine.  During that time every newspaper in the country could fold.

For now, my New York Times and my Wall Street Journal on my brand new Kindle, will connect me back to newspapers in the pre-USA Today days.  Black and white, to be read all over, with one plus one bonus: I won’t have to wash smeared ink off my hands after flipping through it and I won’t have to throw away small trees worth of advertising before I get serious about sitting down and reading.  I, for one, can’t wait.

And … in case you haven’t seen it, Jon Stewart sent a reporter to The New York Times to report on the future of the newspaper. Let me know what you think?
http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=230076&title=end-times