Retail Marketing - Shopping Center Marketing

Everyone is talking about magazines going online–putting out digital versions to be read online only–and doing away with print publications. Publishing houses salivate at the prospects of doing away with expenses for paper and mailing, resulting in a big boost to the bottom line.

But here’s a switch for you, maybe the print magazine itself can go electronic. An article in the
The New York Times talks about an experiment that Esquire is doing with an upcoming issue.
The magazine will have an electronic cover. The cover will flash “The 21st Century Begins Now.”
E Ink, a Cambridge, Mass.-based technology company (whose hi-tech programs are used by the e-book Kindle), worked with Esquire to develop the cover, which includes a tiny battery that runs out in about 90 days [can you plug it in after that? The article does not say, but the magazine probably does not come with an extension cord.] The kicker is that the battery units must be inserted by hand into each magazine [in Mexico because of cheaper labor], and then shipped via refrigerated trucks, to protect the circuitry. Only 100,000 issues will have the digital cover, and they will all go to newsstands–these are guaranteed to become collectors’ items. So, gents, be on the lookout.

Could this be the start of something big; digital moves to print, instead of print moves to digital? Now there’s a new idea.

[Story Found at Retail Design Diva]