A rival of the Kindle e-reader is to come from a Hearst-backed venture called FirstPaper, which PaidContent describes as a “stealth start up” with offices in Palo Alto and New York City.
If speculation pans out, the new e-book reader will use a flexible color screen nearly as big as a tabloid paper, and you’ll be able to change “pages” by touching the screen. True? Such were the possibilities brought up by the Crosscut news site in Seattle in a May 2007 story on Hearst’s plans to test-market a wireless newspaper “sometime in the next two years.”
The involvement of a content company like Hearst in a rival e-reading device might also reduce Bezo’s power over details such as pricing and distribution. The startup is calling itself “well funded,” according to PaidContent, and I wonder if other media corporations might be involved. One way or another, I’d be be surprised if the FirstPaper device didn’t debut as a distribution vehicle for newspapers and magazines, not just books. The more content you can get from one platform, the more chances of success. But you can bet that e-books will show up via the FirstPaper project, for the SVP is none other than Lee Shirani, who headed Sony Reader’s e-book store.
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