Newspapers fiddle as mobile content burns
Feb. 9, 2010By Marion Maneker, The Big Money
Clyde Bentley at the Reynolds Journalism Institute takes a practical approach to the migration of news from print to mobile devices by creating a timeline. He bases his scenario on Gartner Research's prediction that mobile devices will surpass computers as the entry point for news in just three years:
- Gartner extrapolated it from statistics showing that the installed base of PCs will reach 1.78 billion by 2013 but the number of smartphones and other browser-equipped phones will hit 1.82 billion and continue to grow faster than PCs into the future.
As a journalist, I respond best to deadlines. But three years? This is a killer deadline — within 35 months the whole newspaper industry needs to move its emphasis from the static Web to the mobile Web. From 17-inch displays to 3-inch displays. From full keyboard and mouse to one-handed navigation. And you can’t really wait until the deal is done if you want to be a major player in technology. If Gartner’s prediction is accurate, newspapers really have just 18-24 months to position themselves as the leading news content provider for mobile platforms.
Read more from The Big Money's "Newspapers Fiddle As Mobile Content Burns."