Texterity Releases Ground-Breaking 2009 Digital Edition Reader Survey Results, Certified by BPA Worldwide

Texterity has released the results of it's latest digital magazine reader survey. If you'd like to get access to the free survey data, go to http://www.texterity.com/survey/. Below is the full press release:

(June 8, 2009) --- Texterity, Inc., a leading provider of digital publishing solutions, released its fourth annual BPA Worldwide-certified survey results in the Profile of the Digital Edition Reader. This year, both magazines and newspapers were represented. This survey is the most comprehensive profile of digital edition (also known as digital magazines, e-magazines, and e-editions) reader preferences available. The readers surveyed represented a mix of one-third consumer publication readers and two-thirds business readers. The survey polled 33,784 respondents representing 164 publications and 55 publishers of consumer, trade, professional, and association publications.

The key findings included:

1. Digital edition reader satisfaction rates remain high, with 90% of readers “very satisfied” or “satisfied” with their digital edition from Texterity.
2. Digital edition readers are highly engaged with the digital edition, with 92% reading their digital edition the same week.
3. Over 61% of digital readers have read 3 or 4 of the last four issues, comparable to the rate for a typical print reader.

The top three reasons that subscribers cite for reading digital editions are again environmental friendliness, ease of saving, and the ability to search issues. This year’s research indicates “more convenient than print” and “more timely than print” as other important factors.

Digital edition readers engage frequently with advertisers via in-publication links or advertising overlays within digital editions. More than 91% take one or more actions when reading their digital editions; over half visit an advertiser’s website. Among business publication readers, 79% rely on digital editions to “get information to do their jobs better.”

Other highlights of the survey:

• Digital readers are online enthusiasts who prefer electronic sources and see value in rich media enhancements. They have increased their use of websites, social media, e-letters, blogs, wikis, and podcasts.
• The desktop (74%) and laptop (63%) computer continue to be favorite ways to read digital editions, but this year, over 25% want “smart phone” access from devices such as the iPhone, and there is a growing interest in the Kindle and other e-reader devices
• Digital editions are popular across age groups and genders. The median age of the digital edition reader in this survey is 41.6 years old, and the median business reader has over 13 years of industry experience.

“Digital editions are here in a big way, and what’s new this year is the higher level of engagement and desire to read using various devices beyond the desktop,” said Cimarron Buser, SVP of Marketing and Business Development for Texterity. “We’ve learned that our consumer and business readers have similar preferences and reading styles. Video has increased in importance – 65% find it useful -- and readers specifically called out the iPhone as a mobile device of choice,” he added. “This data allows Texterity’s publishers to better communicate with advertisers and agencies in developing creative new ways to tap this growing and valuable audience.”

For a list of participating publishers, and a detailed breakdown of the survey’s questions and responses, go to http://www.texterity.com/survey/.

About Texterity

Texterity, Inc. (www.texterity.com) creates, maintains, and tracks more than 1,000 digital publications for trade, consumer, association, and niche publishers. Fast, vivid browser-based technology, powerful search and clipping, strategic consultative services to drive circulation and ad revenue, mobile delivery, SEO, audit-compliant reporting, social networking and website integration distinguish Texterity as an industry leader. Texterity provides the only true no-download solution, easily accessed on any computer, iPhone, or iPod touch. Consumer publications can be enjoyed on Texterity’s magazine service at www.coverleaf.com. Named as an “EContent 100” company to watch, Texterity is privately held and headquartered in Southborough, MA.

About BPA Worldwide

A not-for-profit organization since 1931, BPA Worldwide is governed by a tripartite board comprised of media owners, advertising agencies and advertisers. Headquartered in Shelton, Connecticut, USA, BPA has the largest membership of any media-auditing organization in the world, spanning more than 30 countries. Worldwide, BPA serves more than 2,900 media properties—including over 1,900 B-to-B publications, more than 500 consumer magazines, 150 newspapers, 300+ web sites, 65 events, email newsletters, databases, wireless and other advertiser-supported media—as well as more than 2,600 advertiser and agency members. Visit www.bpaww.com for the latest audit reports, membership information and publishing and advertising industry news.

Contact Information:

TEXTERITY

Jill Baker

Director of Marketing

508-804-3069

jbaker@texterity.com

BPA WORLDWIDE
Glenn Schutz
Manager, Communications
203-447-2873
gschutz@bpaww.com

Will Google ebooks become the digital magazine standard?

Custom publishers are torn between choosing among a dizzying variety of competing digital publishing formats including PDF, HTML, Nxtbook, Zinio and others. But could Google's planned foray into ebooks become the de facto standard for digital magazines?

In this excellent post, Gizmodo's John Herman parses through Google's expected ebook offering. One item about the format jumped out at me:

And the solution will be browser-based, enhanced by Google Gears. The browser eBook paradigm is an interesting one, but it seems obvious that they'll support actual eBook formats as well, and as they have in the past, right?

[QUOTING FROM THE NY TIMES] "Google's program would allow consumers to read books on any device with Internet access, including mobile phones, rather than being limited to dedicated reading devices like the Amazon Kindle. "We don't believe that having a silo or a proprietary system is the way that e-books will go,""

Well, maybe not. Offering free downladable eBooks of public domain literature is one thing, but maybe the need for copy protection has forced Google's hand here.

Google moving into eBooks (or indeed, any industry) is a big deal, but the early indications here are strange. In releasing a browser-based solutions, Google would be sidestepping virtually the entire install base of current eBook readers, banking on people reading with existing connected hardware like their PCs or iPhones, or forthcoming, easier-on-the-eyes devices like those based on Pixel Qi's hybrid screens.

Divorcing content from whatever screen you're using is BIG. (Amazon's Kindle app for the iPhone already does this by syncing the location of the last item you read in both your Kindle and your iPhone.) By using any browser, you presumably won't have to download an app or plug-in. Using Google Gears means that the content will be available whenever you are off-line. Putting your content on an open-source, cloud-based bookshelf and magazine rack allows (theoretically) shelfspace for multiple vendors with DRM and DRM-free content (such as custom publications).

Transitions are always fraught with danger. Key linkages get missed and someone falls through the cracks. The disruptive upheavals in publishing are continuing but we're beginning to see the landscape's eventual contours after the earthquakes subside.

If it isn't this specific solution from Google, the future of magazine and book publishing will be something that looks a whole lot like it.

Which technology will be the post-paper publishing savior?

For a custom publishing blog, I have been fixating on display technologies a lot lately. This is because the publishing industry is so dismal right now and custom publishing is doubly so. Publishing's great hope is that a new post-paper reading platform will emerge that will allow publishers to charge for content again. Once a dominant platform emerges custom publishing can flourish.

Amazon's Kindle gets the most hype but the limitations of an expensive e-ink device (no color, no video and no robust browser) probably make it DOA for everyone but early adopters. Even though the larger-screened Kindle DX will allow magazines and newspapers to display advertising, it probably won't make a serious dent because it shares the same technical limitations as the smaller Kindle 2. $489 is a lot to spend on a large, single-use device.

So the rush is on to create a cheap, color, video-capable nettop that will also work as a low-power e-reader. Today we'll focus on the two technologies that offer the most promise.

The first is a revolutionary LCD/low-power e-reader screen from Pixel Qi. If you haven't been following the progress of this potential deal-changer, check out the very latest by Wired.com's Priya Ganapati:

"Mary Lou Jepsen is a tech necromancer who battled the odds to conjure up a product that most experts said couldn’t be built: a $100 laptop (give or take a few twenties). Now she’s back, with plans for low-cost, low-power, super-readable, LCD-based screens that will go into everything from e-book readers to netbooks and computers.

“We are creating e-paper with color and video capability, but on high volume, standard, mass production lines, so they will be available easily,” says Jepsen, founder of Pixel Qi (pronounced Pixel Chee), a San Bruno, California-based startup. The company plans to have samples of its display out within the next two months, “and we are pulling all-nighters now to get the product ready.”" (Read Wired's Pixel Qi Promises Cheap, Readable, Low-Power Displays for all the details.)

The other potential deal-changer is the rumored 10-inch Apple slate. Gizmodo's John Herman brings us up to date on the latest evidence that Apple is going to be launching something like a 9.7 inch iPod Touch in the 3Q. Check out these nuggets from Gizmodo - Apple's Tablet: The Story So Far:
"The Most Compelling Evidence

Hidden somewhere amidst all the patent-filing and reputation-staking are some legitimately convincing pieces of information:

• Steady allegatons of Apple's long, storied interest in tablets—buoyed by occasional patent filings—count for something, as does their consistent cynicism about netbooks (the only real alternative to tablets in the ultramobile computing space).
• The late 2008 patent app for a multitouch tablet interface is thorough, practical, timely and contains a plausible (if basic) mockup.
• The Wintek 9.7' panel order is the closest thing to hard evidence that we've got. It's a good bet that Apple has them, or will soon, and that they're putting them to use—but not a sure one.
• That the device has no keyboard, is moderately sized, and that it's media-centric are all ideas shared by those who've separately floated sourced tablet rumors (TechCrunch, BusinessWeek, MacNewDaily)."

I'm personally betting on Apple because this rumored "media pad" may be heavily subsidized with a Verizon data plan. This creates a lower barrier of entry that will bring in more than just first adopters. Apple also has shown that they are very good at creating an effortless content ecosystem with iTunes.

You'd think that Amazon would have an advantage in the content delivery business but Amazon's recent acquisition of Lexcycle, the company that makes the popular Stanza e-reading software for the iPhone, suggests that Amazon wants to make a bigger stand in the Apple-centered content delivery space. This, plus the rushed introduction of the Kindle DX just three months after the introduction of the Kindle 2, suggests (to me at least) that Amazon is running a little scared and they want to hedge their bets to ensure content market share.

We may find out about the Apple media pad on June 8th at Apple's WWDC conference or we may have to wait until Steve Jobs returns in "late June". Any bets on this one?

Amazon Kindle DX to feature 9.7-inch display?

Engadget has the details on the new larger Kindle: Amazon Kindle DX to feature 9.7-inch display:

"We just got some basic specs on the new, decidedly more newspaper- and college textbook-friendly Amazon Kindle DX. Here's what we know: it's got a 9.7-inch display (as opposed to the current six-inch unit), a long-requested built-in PDF reader, and the ability to add annotations in addition to notes and highlights -- whatever that means. We're also hearing that New York Times will be offering a $9.95 / month subscription, a little lower than the current $13.99."

Check out the link to see four shots of the Kindle DX in action.

UPDATED: Big-Screen e-Readers May Help Save Magazines?

On Wednesday, May 6th, Amazon will be unveiling a larger screen Kindle e-reader. A number of magazine, newspaper and publishers will be speaking at the event which suggests that the e-reader will be of sufficient size to mimic the layouts of those formats. This larger size will allow magazines to display ads (that the current Kindle model doesn't).

As The New York Times reports, Big-Screen e-Readers May Help Save Newspapers:

"Publishers could possibly use these new mobile reading devices to hit the reset button and return in some form to their original business model: selling subscriptions, and supporting their articles with ads.

The current version of the Kindle has proved in a limited way that this is possible. Even though its six-inch black-and-white screen is made for reading books, Amazon offers Kindle owners subscriptions to more than 58 newspapers and magazines, including The Times, Newsweek and The Wall Street Journal. (The Journal subscription costs $9.99 a month, The Times is $13.99 a month and The New Yorker is $2.99 a month.)"

But many media watchers don't believe the larger Amazon Kindle will rescue the sinking old media ship. As Owen Thomas writes in Gawker, Why the Large-Format Kindle Is Not a Life Raft for Newspapers:

"Terminal patients often suffer colorful delusions. But none is as cruel as the fantasy Amazon.com has kindled among dying ink-stained wretches, who believe a magical electronic reading device will cure what ails magazines and newspapers."

[SNIP]

"Hearst digital chieftain Phil Bronstein, the former San Francisco Chronicle editor, told Maureen Dowd that the industry's best hope was that people would live longer, so those trained to read newspapers will stick to the habit.

The obvious converse of Bronstein's feeble hope: The young will never learn to read newspapers and magazines again, having grown up reading online. Why would they switch to a product like the Kindle?

Like the libertarian wingnuts who would rather flee to science-fiction cities on the sea, escape to outer space, or cosset themselves in an online fantasy world rather than live in reality, the addled lords of print like Bronstein would rather dream of a technological rescue than face the hard work of survival.

What newspapers and magazines need to do is obvious: Build appealing websites, and sell them better. But that would require changing."

UPDATED: Wired's Dylan F. Tweney blasts the large screen Kindle, Large-Screen Kindle Won’t Mean Squat if Apple Tablet Arrives:

"Make no mistake: There are many more people who would be interested in a general-purpose tablet than in an e-book reader. Sure, the majority of them would probably use it to download bikini photos of Evangeline Lilly while watching Lost on the big screen instead of re-reading Proust.

But if the PC and smartphone industries are any guide, people will opt for a well-designed multipurpose device over a special-purpose gadget every time, even if the latter does a few things much better. Already, there are more people reading e-books on the iPhone using Stanza alone (more than one million) than on the Kindle.

We don’t know whether Apple will release a tablet or not. But if it does, its sales will make the Kindle’s million units look like a rounding error."

With Apple, Plastic Logic, Hearst, News Corp all readying e-readers, this summer should be an interesting time. Will the custom publishing industry go for web sites or still cleave to the magazine format on these new readers? We'll soon see.

Apple iPhone "Mediapad" Could Be a Kindle Killer - Business Center - PC World

For a device that doesn't officially exist, the rumored (iPad, iPhone Mediapad, Super iPod Touch, etc.) is getting a lot of attention in the publishing world. Most of the hype suggests that this one as-yet-unannounced device will suddenly make books, magazines and custom publishing instantly profitable again.

PC World's David Coursey says that Apple iPhone "Mediapad" Could Be a Kindle Killer:

"Is Apple's rumored 'mediapad' entertainment device a threat to Amazon's Kindle e-book reader? I think it is, but the only people who may care are current Kindle owners, some of whom may end up wishing they had waited on their purchase.

As I have said before: The Kindle in kindling.

It is always nice when the industry rumor mill starts validating what I have been saying, namely, that rumors of a ready-to-release Apple netbook actually refer to a supersized iPod touch."

[SNIP]

"Amazon has shown that an e-book reader can find customers, provided the content is available. Amazon has the content part nailed and will, presumably, be happy to see Apple create a much larger installed based of e-book-capable hardware than Kindle ever will.

My prediction is that if Apple really does the mediapad, Kindle will go away. But, probably not until Apple can reach a $350 price for its rumored new product. That make take a while, as something makes me think the super iPod touch will cost $500 or more when/if it is released."