Ifra enews2008 - the second year

The second year of
The Second Year of eNews 2008
Discussions & displays, people &
players
eNews – Ifra’s initiative in response
to the mobile e-reading world
Inside
eNews – Ifra’s initiative in response
to the mobile e-reading world
In the autumn of 2005, Ifra set up a new and ambitious initiative in order to provide interested media houses with a global
forum in response to the emerging mobile e-reading world.
The initiative, called eNews 2008, has now run half of its
three year course, and much has been accomplished.
The 27 participating publishing houses and technology
developers have travelled to take part in workshops, listen
to leading experts, visit cutting edge technology developers
and experience first hand new media usage in places like
Tokyo, Vienna and Amsterdam.
“It is important to join forces with other publishers
in order to meet the challenge and opportunity that
future e-reading will present – together we have a
much stronger voice in the market, especially when it
comes to dealing with technology and infrastructure
providers.”
Mariko Horikawa, Assistant Manager, Yomiuri Shimbun, Japan
The halfway milestone
– what we have done
eNews 2008 has been up and running for a year and a half.
In that time its members have:
> participated in eight workshops, on subjects including “Devices
– opportunities & constraints, priorities & focus”, “Business:
revenue models and key drivers”, “In the eye of the consumer:
­expectations and mass market success factors”, “Audience
­targeting and profiling”, “Designing the perfect mobile content
site” and “A roadmap for developing an e-reading service”.
> listened to 20 leading media experts, including Matt Eaton,
­managing director Japan, Mediaedge:cia; Daniel Scuka, chief
­editor, Wireless Watch Japan; Philip Sugai, assistant professor of
marketing, International University of Japan; Dr Mats Lindgren,
CEO, Kairos Future; Jens Lanvin, senior consultant, ­and Andreas
Martin, head of products and services, Hutchison 3G Austria.
> visited or met a dozen key companies in media, mobile business and e-reading technology, including: Eink, Fujitsu, Sony,
­Bridgestone, Panasonic, iRex Technologies, IP Mobile, NTT
DoCoMo, KDDI, De Telegraaf, Yomiuri Shimbun and Österreich.
“The eNews initiative provides key insights into
trends, consumer behavior and cutting-edge
technology. These insights help news organi­
sations find new ways to communicate with
readers and grow the journalism and the business both now and in the years to come.”
Meredith Artley, Digital Development Director, IHT
Director of International Strategy, NYTimes.com, US
eNews 2008 members are now looking forward to a
seminar and focus tour to San Francisco and Los Angeles,
where visits will include Apple, Google, MySpace, YouTube
and the SID 2007 electronic display exhibition in Long
Beach. In the autumn there will be further workshops and
company visits in Helsinki-Stockholm and Dublin.
What is eNews?
eNews is a unique cross-disciplinary three year initiative,
set up by Ifra, the world’s leading association for newspaper
and media publishing, in response to the emerging mobile
e-reading media market.
The project is about creating business opportunities based on
early consumer behaviour in an emerging mobile e-reading
world. Ifra and our partners have established a world first
ini­tiative to be able to meet the new and changing needs of
consumers, to create and sustain business, take control and
adapt to new technology.
The project allows its members to be proactive in responding
to the needs of a mobile generation. Furthermore, by joining
forces, the participants have an opportunity to act as a powerful lobby group vis-à-vis technology and service providers in the
area of mobile e-reading.
eNews 2008 is the first of the eNews projects, and it runs from
September 2005 to September 2008. Its members include
leading publishing houses from Europe, Japan and the US.
Two additional projects are currently under way; eNews 2010,
aimed at publishers in Europe, Japan, and the Americas, and
eNews Asia, aimed at Asian publishers.
“Seeing cutting edge mobile and e-reading
devices first hand and talking to the
developers has given us an invaluable insight
and a much clearer idea of where the
technology stands and what opportunities
it may offer us in Switzerland.”
Stephan Obwegeser, Manager Online, Tamedia, Switzerland
Why was eNews set up?
The eNews initiative will address the fundamental issue of what
opportunities there are for content providers such as publishers in
Mobile media consumers today have access to connected
the emerging eNews value chain. Historically, developers of elecdevices such as mobile phones, PDAs and laptops, for which
tronic consumer devices have aimed, not
business models for content providers are reasonably well
just to sell the technology, but also to own
developed, although publishers generally have followed
the consumers, the marketplaces and the
rather than lead in this market. With up and coming
“The workshops have enabled
distribution. The current increase in mobile
e-reading devices, several of which have recently been
media channels offers content providers new
frank discussions with publaunched or are being launched in the next couple of
business opportunities as well as challenges.
lishers in similar situations
years, new business opportunities, and opportunities to
The initiative aims to provide publishers with
take the initiative, present themselves to publishers.
– something which is possible
know-how on business models as well as
thanks to the geographic
process technology, thereby allowing them
to make well-founded strategic decisions.
spread of the membership.
This also means we can learn
from experiences in other
markets.”
The situation can be likened to what is
­happening in music, where the event of the
MP3 format, which has been around for more
than ten years, offered the music industry
Chris Lloyd, Assistant Managing Editor,
new
business opportunities. However, rather
Telegraph Media Group, UK
than enabling the business in this way, the
industry sees MP3 files and transfer as a
threat, and is fighting it through lawsuits instead of harnessing the
power of the medium. It is vital for print publishers to not make this
mistake, but rather to view emerging mobile media as an opportunity
to be embraced. The TV medium serves as an interesting example of
how the mobile movement can be turned into an advantage, and this ­
is the way forward for print publishers as well.
Why take part?
As participants from any of the eNews 2008 member companies
will tell you, the emerging mobile e-reading market presents
publishing companies with a number of challenges:
> New products and services have to be launched
> The challenge is to be fast, hit the target and shape
evolving targets
> The relationship of mobile e-reading media with other
traditional and digital media needs to be shaped
> Technology does not drive the development of the mobile
market, consumer behaviour does
To find out more about Ifra’s
eNews initiative, please contact:
Project leader
Dr Stig Nordqvist
Ifra Business Development Director
E-mail: [email protected]
Telephone: +46.8.6924635
The entire eNews team can be
found on the web at
www.ifra.com/enews
In addition to the project activities – seminars, focus tours and
research – the eNews initiative delivers a number of outcomes
for its members, including:
> Identifying investment strategies for e-reading
> Providing a faster learning curve in new business and
technology
> Allowing preparation for the future, rather than prophecy
> Identifying how to develop strong and profitable products
within mobile e-reading
> Identifying new business models for increased revenues
> Create impact on the development within mobile news,
both internally and externally
> Identifying needs for achieving transparency and thereby
making recommendations for business and technology
standards
> Providing a lobbying force
“The access we have gained through eNews to the latest
thinking, both through top speakers and through meeting
front-end technology and service providers, is extremely
useful and thought provoking, and will definitely influence
our business decisions with regards to e-reading.”
Thorbjörn Larsson, editor-in-chief, Dagens Nyheter (Bonnier), Sweden