Comments on: Belgian Media Grinding to a Halt? Big Time.

By: Luc’s Thoughts on Organizational Change » It’s the Content Stupid! (Feat. Seth Godin)

Sun, 18 Apr 2010 20:58:16 +0000

[...] Belgian media is going through a dip and just like our government they are frozen and hypnotized. Or should I say paralyzed by fear? It must be downright daunting to be working in the newspaper business nowadays. [...]

By: Luc Galoppin

Luc Galoppin — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 15:58:51 +0000

In my humble opinion we will be blogging about unemployment instead of tablet features when it comes to the Belgian media landscape.

By: Luc Galoppin

Luc Galoppin — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 15:58:00 +0000

And here is another summary of tablets announced by newspapers for 2010. Although they are still copying old concepts into new media AT LEAST THEY ARE NOT "WAITING" as our Belgian fellows at Corelio: http://ow.ly/NX4X In my humble opinion we will be blogging about unemployment instead of tablet features when it comes to the Belgian media landscape.

By: Luc Galoppin

Luc Galoppin — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 15:59:34 +0000

@Tom – I agree with you that the format isn’t yet where it should be. But what if it were … would that safeguard De Standaard and the entire newspaper business from falling apart?

For example, would the new Sports Illustrated – Tablet Demo 1.5 safeguard the sports editors from a diminishing business? (See link: http://ow.ly/Mm2J )

I think NOT! The newspaper industry is dying because they are no longer needed. They are the middleman between us and the news itself. What we really want is “news,” not “newspapers”. With the newest technology available to anyone anytime for free a middleman is no longer needed.

For an extremely interesting article on this topic that paints a clear picture of the future of newspaper business go to Baekdal: http://ow.ly/Mm6u (it just appeared yesterday)

Anyway – the point I’m trying to make is that ‘waiting’ is an attitude that is dangerous and harmful for the future of a newspaper company.

A slight sense of urgency would be appropriate for Corelio and its competitors (note: I pick on Corelio for they seem to be having the biggest marketshare in the Belgian media landscape. Nothing more, nothing less)

No doubt about it: we will be blogging some more about this rupture in 2010!

Luc

By: Luc Galoppin

Luc Galoppin — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 15:59:00 +0000

@Tom – I agree with you that the format isn’t yet where it should be. But what if it were … would that safeguard De Standaard and the entire newspaper business from falling apart?

For example, would the new Sports Illustrated – Tablet Demo 1.5 safeguard the sports editors from a diminishing business? (See link: http://ow.ly/Mm2J )

For an extremely interesting article on this topic that paints a clear picture of the future of newspaper business go to Baekdal: http://ow.ly/Mm6u (it just appeared yesterday)

Anyway – the point I’m trying to make is that ‘waiting’ is an attitude that is dangerous and harmful for the future of a newspaper company.

No doubt about it: we will be blogging some more about this rupture in 2010!

Luc

By: Tom

Tom — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 12:27:52 +0000

please, de dag dat er een deftige e-reader met kleurenscherm op de markt is wil ik die best eens proberen, maar tot nu toe is het als of je een krant van 1933 in je handen hebt. Total bollocks die Kindle.

By: Tom

Tom — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 12:27:00 +0000

By: Luc Galoppin

Luc Galoppin — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 17:08:55 +0000

@Jan

Thanks for this link and this argument. 70% is indeed a huge setback and I doubt if Corelio would have more power than the Dallas Morning News or the US government.

However, I still wonder if that justifies:
1. the attitude of ‘waiting’ (never seen any company, industry or nation thrive on ‘waiting’);
2. espousing that ‘pinting’ is your core business when you are an information provider in an information-propelled age.

Cheers,
Luc

By: Luc Galoppin

Luc Galoppin — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 17:08:00 +0000

@Jan

Thanks for this link and this argument. 70% is indeed a huge setback and I doubt if Corelio would have more power than the Dallas Morning News or the US government.

Cheers,
Luc

By: Jan Fabry

Jan Fabry — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 13:49:29 +0000

One of the reasons may be the revenue sharing model: according to the publisher of the Dallas Morning News, Amazon wants 70 percent of the profit [ http://paidcontent.org/article/419-dallas-morning-news-tells-senate-amazon-kindle-terms-onerous/ ] (compare this to Apple, which takes 30 percent of music and app sales through iTunes). Yes, information should be available as easily as possible, but information can have a price, and if the transaction costs are too high, sellers can choose to leave the market.