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Tuesday July 22, 2008
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Is Esquire's upcoming cover from "E Ink", the same people responsible for the Kindle, a breakthrough destined to save moribund print publications or just Esquire jumping the shark? Magazine's are desperate to sell more copies. Esquire's plan to boost sales has it adding an electronic cover to its September issue flashing, "THE 21ST CENTURY BEGINS NOW."
Even the New York Times, touting this story on its weekly Media page, noted the current prototype has to be plugged in! Shark or no, there are still lots of hurdles to jump. Esquire's parent company put up the cash to design a battery which will fit inside the magazine's cover. The battery and display hardware, will be manufactured in China. The actual insertion into the magazine takes place in Mexico. The finished product will be partially distributed in refrigerated trucks to preserve battery life!
 Details of the actual technology is a little sketchy. Still, a look at E Ink's website shows a reasonably similar product already in production called "Ink-In-Motion."
"Ink-In-Motion is a flashing electronic display that combines the proven promotional effectiveness of motion with the visual appeal of ink-on-paper. Displays made with E Ink's Ink-In-Motion film are ideal for retail environments, where power access is limited; a typical postcard sized Ink-In-Motion display is capable of running on just 2 AA batteries for up to 6 months. These displays use no backlight or frontlight and can be easily viewed from almost any angle and under virtually any lighting condition."
If you're already an Esquire subscriber you're out-of-luck. This baby's going to the newsstand and even then in only 100,000 copies of the magazine's normal 720,000 copy circulation. Make no mistake, this is an attempt to sell off the sizzle and not the steak. No promises have been made for breakthrough content--only a breakthrough cover.
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