With the advances in online publishing and in the era of handheld devices and smartphones accessing online content, you do have to wonder why a new newspaper is launching in the UK at the time when everyone is trying to predict the death of the printed newspaper.
The Independent, not happy with one publication has produced the i, to attract a "different target market". You also have to wonder at the title, i, is it trying to make a tenuous link with the success of the iPod, iPhone, iPad etc? Is that going to resonate with the "dumbed down" segment of The Independent's readership?
It reads like one of the free London evening papers, yet with a 20p price tag. Covering a wide range of stories, but not in any particular depth. The most engaging articles being on whether Bert from Sesame Street is gay and the fact that Sony has just stopped producing walkmans. Yes, you read that correctly, the tape cassette walkman. I think the main headline there should have been that Sony was actually still producing them until recently - who knew!
As the population moves online and then online on-the-go, I feel that the 'instantly downloaded, easy to read in high winds, won't leave ink on your hands' online versions of papers will leave little room for the printed ones. As readerships decrease, the cost of those huge printing presses will look like an indulgence, similar to Wayne Rooney sipping Champagne in Dubai celebrating his new £250,000 a week salary, compared with the cost of publishing online.
So, i paper, how long shall we give it? A year? Two? I think 'the paper for today' doesn't have a very prosperous tomorrow.
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