Detroit Dailies Look to Latest E-reader

Posted Tuesday, March 17, 2009 12:00 am

By: E&P Staff At last week's mediaXchange, Detroit Media Partnership CEO Dave Hunke said the joint operating agency for The Detroit News and Detroit Free Press is considering a subscriber lease arrangement for next-generation e-readers that are to be commercially available next year fromPlastic Logic.

Hunke expected to have 100 of the ultra-thin, very light e-readers for testing by month's end, with the hope of rolling out larger-scale leasing later.

In a larger format than current e-readers, the Plastic Logic device could serve as an alternative to Detroit's printed dailies -- now home-delivered only three days a week -- on the one hand and the papers' Web sites on the other. The arrangement would essentially put electronic replica editions on devices more portable and presumably less expensive than laptop computers.

Begun in 2000 as a Cambridge University spin-off, Plastic Logic manufacturers high-resolution transistor arrays on a flexible plastic backplane overlaid by a flexible E-Ink display. Plastic Logic already counts Financial Times and USA Today among its publishing partners.

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Detroit Dailies Look to Latest E-reader

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