Fantasy Of The Day: The Kindle Will Save Papers
Did you know that in addition to its odd pay-per-blog scheme, Amazon's Kindle also offers readers a chance to pay to read online newspapers? We haven't spent time talking about it, because it's so clearly a non-starter.
Context & Ripple Effects
Amazon's freshly launched Kindle ships with two paid-content experiments layered on top of its book store: a [[a:pay-per-blog|pay-per-blog subscription scheme]] and paid delivery of online newspapers — content most readers already get free in a browser. Silicon Alley Insider's verdict is blunt: the newspaper play is 'clearly a non-starter,' and the outlet declined to spend time on it beyond flagging the pricing logic.
The dismissal did not travel unchallenged. On the same day, Media Nation picked up the paid-content angle and the New York Times' Bits blog published an explicit defense of the Kindle against the wave of write-offs — evidence that whether a dedicated device can monetize news was contested from launch, not settled.
First-order effects
- Newspaper publishers gain a new paid distribution channel on the Kindle, but one built on asking readers to subscribe to content they currently read for free online — the exact objection behind the pay-per-blog scheme.
Second-order effects
- Same-week counter-commentary, like Bits' 'In Defense of the Kindle,' forces the real question onto publishers: whether device-based subscriptions add reach worth cannibalizing free web traffic for, a call each paper now has to make individually.
Third-order effects
- If small-screen paid news subscriptions fail, the burden of proving that hardware can rescue newspaper economics shifts to whoever builds the next generation of reading devices — leaving open which form factor, if any, finally monetizes the daily press.
The trend: Dedicated e-reader launches are becoming the testing ground for whether hardware platforms, rather than newspapers themselves, can rebuild paid news distribution.