Esquire brings you a taste of the future (again)

I hope you have heard about the past Esquire E-Ink cover. I hope this because last October, to celebrate de 75th year of the magazine, Esquire “prints” a limited edition with the first e-ink cover.



It was an interesting approach to new formats for magazines in the future related to the uncertain future of the paper magazines. They test the technology and the impact on the audience, too. And, of course, with the theme of the month, it fits like a globe.

Good job but the e-ink technology (as you can see in eBook readers) seems that wasn’t enough.

This year, with the September edition, Esquire goes beyond, this time embedding a video material, real video on the magazine.

You can think that is unnecessary, and you will be right, but think again with the magazine publishers point of view. The future of the industry is still uncertain, you can see the new eBook readers (from Sony, Amazon...) as an alternative but they are for book formats. You can think that a magazine can be formatted like some kind of book, but there is not a really option. Why? Because magazine always was more graphical. And other more important reason is pushing ahead these last Esquire actions: the digital native generation.

The digital native generation is used to consume rich media, and with no link with the previous formats. You can justify an eBook reader because it remembers the old books format, but your son couldn’t do it. It’s as simply as this.

Some information about the technical solution used:
- Screen uses liquid crystal display (LCD) technology
- Each is 2.7mm thick with 320x240 resolution
- The slim-line screens have rechargeable batteries (via mini-USB)
- Rechargeable battery lasts up to 70 mins
- The chip technology used to store the video is activated when the page is turned.
- Each chip can hold up to 40 minutes of video.

The first clips will preview programmes from US TV network CBS and show adverts by the drinks company Pepsi. You can see a preview of the action in this video.



As our parents saw, the format of the world that we know is changing again.
Another clear example of how humanity evolves in cycles, but every time are faster and continuous.

P.D.: stay tuned with Americhip, the company behind this technology, because they provide marketing solutions through sound, sight, touch, scen and taste technologies.

Sun, Aug 23, 2009  Permanent link
Categories: future, evolution, magazines, publishers, digital native

RSS for this post