Gil Fuchsberg, President of FirstPaper, the Hearst venture that will soon bring its e-readers to the publishing market, will be one of the most eagerly anticipated speakers at the conference, as there is much speculation about the new device. The conference will also present e-reader trials carried out by the New York Times, Les Echos and NRC Handelsblad, and examine recent developments in advertising, distribution and technical standards for e-readers.
The conference is organised by WAN-IFRA, which has invested in e-reading research and testing, and participated in the development of e-reading technologies, since 2003. Stig Nordqvist, Director for Emerging Digital Platforms and Business Development at WAN-IFRA, will share the latest technological discoveries gained from visits to the laboratories of the world’s leading companies working on the e-readers of the future.
The Hearst Group, one of the leading US magazine, newspaper and book publishers, helped finance the E-Ink start-up, and its revolutionary research in the area of electronic ink, beginning in 1998. A decade later, Electronic Paper Displays, including the E Ink Corporation’s electronic ink, equip Amazon Kindle, iRex, Bokeen, Sony Reader and other major e-readers available on the market.
But back in 1998, Hearst’s support seemed visionary. Kenneth Bronfin, a senior executive with Hearst New Media & Technology, had this to say at the time: "The technology to produce 'electronic paper' has many compelling ramifications for a leading media company like Hearst. Ultimately, this novel technology could dramatically change the way we publish our books, magazines and newspapers. We look forward to collaborating with E Ink as they turn this innovation into products that consumers will want and need."
Today, Hearst’s FirstPaper is poised to introduce its own reader, said in press reports to be a wireless, large-format device adapted for the reading and advertising requirements of newspapers and magazines. The company has not released details of the device, but its long experience with the technology is clearly promising.
About WAN-IFRA
WAN-IFRA says: “WAN-IFRA, based in Paris, France, and Darmstadt, Germany, with subsidiaries in Singapore, India, Spain, France and Sweden, is the global organisation of the world’s newspapers and news publishers. It represents more than 18,000 publications, 15,000 online sites and over 3,000 companies in more than 120 countries. The organisation was created by the merger of the World Association of Newspapers and IFRA, the research and service organisation for the news publishing industry.”
