Article

FTI Consulting

September 20, 2010

Bruce Benson

Senior Managing Director

This short article is about the next big thing: magazines and newspapers. 

Of course it may seem odd that with so many publications in decline or folding, we’re suggesting they might have a bright future ahead. But some of the data coming out about the content consumption on portable devices is very encouraging. While it’s early days, the data affirms there may be light at the end of the tunnel for publishers.

In the early spring 2010 a digital magazine conference in New York was packed to the gills. All the major publishers around the world were there, as
were the hardware vendors and publishing software providers. As you might expect, the iPad, eReaders, and tablets of various types were the focus of conversation. Qualcomm was there with the first color liquid ink reader – which was very cool – and of course, Adobe was there discussing its
supposed ability to transform magazines laid out in its products into an iPad app. (Sadly, two weeks after the conference, Apple announced that it would no longer support software that did this type of porting – a real embarrassment for Adobe. Although now Apple seems to be reversing themselves.)