Condé Nast, Hearst, Meredith, News Corp and Time Inc. have announced plans to jointly develop an e-reading device/service with publishers interests at heart. Disillusioned with the 30-70 per cent revenue split offered by current market dominator, Amazon's Kindle, the group of publishers have decided to unite in their cause to make the e-reader opportunity more profitable.

No details on how much each partner will invest in the venture have been released, though according to interim managing director, John Squires, there is enough in the kitty "to give us a good start". Information on staff size has similarly not been made public, nor has a company name been decided upon.

As for the product itself, there is speculation that it will boast a colour screen, have a touch screen and be able to play video and audio, allowing potential for "highly engaging, interactive" ads to help generate revenue.

One key advantage of the service is that it will be multiplatform, allowing publishers' content to be read on multiple devices, operating systems and screens. This has been a particular criticism of the Kindle, as customers are restricted to reading what they purchase via Amazon only on the Kindle device. "Once purchased, this content will be 'unlocked' for consumers to enjoy anywhere, anytime, on any platform," said Squires.

Who, exactly will help the publishers to develop the device has not been revealed, though the companies confirmed they expect to open up shop at the end of next year.

Together, the five brands represent an unduplicated audience of 144.6 million, and despite the unison over this e-reader project, Squires had said that some of the brands, such as News Corp and Hearst, are seperately pursuing individual projects.

Earlier this week further details of Hearst's e-reading device/service, Skiff, were announced- with the company confirming an 'iTunes style' approach to selling publishers content on a multiplatform device. News Corp is also working on its own consortium, though Squires says this is of no detriment to the combined initiative: "I don't know that that's relevant to us. We've got an incredible group of companies behind us. We know what we want to produce. ... I don't think there's a question of how many. It's a question of which ones bring the right product to market."

There has been much speculation over whether or not e-reading devices will take off, with many arguing that e-reader price tag is still out of reach for the average consumer. Speaking at the 2nd WAN-IFRA E-Readering Conference in Paris earlier this year, Stig Nordqvist pointed out that the entire 'e-reading experience' was another component that needed to be attractive to customers. Nordqvist urged publishers to work on developing their own product that focused specifically on this 'experience' saying: "Remember that e-reading is not about technology, it's about understanding consumer needs for different levels of interaction. And don't give away stuff for free - consumers are prepared to pay for what they really want."

It appears that publishers are now heeding this advice and taking the e-reader challenge into their own hands.

Source: LA Times, Media Guardian