Hearst’s Skiff Plans To Set Sail Next Year With E-Reader Platform, Devices—And Sprint Deal
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Forget First Paper. The incubated startup Hearst is looking to as a digital content savior is now Skiff, LLC, although the better name might be “Swiss Army E-Reader Ink” given all that it’s trying to do. Skiff, led by Gilbert Fuchsberg and headquartered in NYC with offices in Palo Alto, promises a 2010 launch with a “complete” digital content solution that can handle it all but will specialize in magazines and newspapers via a platform that can be used across devices and its own dedicated devices to be sold at retail. It also promises a business model that respects publishers’ needs.
SEE ALSO: Time Inc. Close To Magazine JV With Rival Publishers
It’s unclear where the Hearst startup fits in with the digital magazine consortium Time Inc’s John Squires is working on and that we expect to be officially announced any day. Hearst is part of that consortium along with Time Inc., Conde Nast and Meredith (NYSE: MDP). Ken Bronfin, the president of Hearst Interactive Media, told the WSJ, which first reported about Skiff’s plans late Thursday (the formal announcement is planned for Friday morning), that he hopes the consortium will work with Skiff. Hearst confirmed to the Journal that it already plans to offer some of its own publications, including the San Francisco Chronicle along with titles from unidentified other publishers.
The company provided us with details; Skiff.com is also live. On the dedicated device side, Skiff says it has a multi-year deal with Sprint (NYSE: S) to provide 3G service for the dedicated devices—and to sell them at its 1,000-plus retail outlets and on Sprint.com. It’s not an exclusive but Skiff says it won’t announce other deals until next year. Under its FirstPaper moniker, the company said last month it is working with chipmaker Marvell (NASDAQ: MRVL) Technology group on its integrated Armada 166E for e-readers designed to render high-res PDFs “ultra fast,” save power, extend battery life and support ePaper in thin formats and a variety of screen sizes.
On the platform side, Skiff promises “visually appealing layouts, high-resolution graphics, rich typography and dynamic updates” that make it easier for publishers to migrate premium content to e-readers while allowing them to maintain their own design sensibilities. No names but Amazon’s Kindle, for instance, essentially reduces everything to the same greyscale, flattened format. The Skiff Store promises “a rich selection of newspapers, magazines, books, and blogs.”
Among other aspects, the business model includes optimizing for advertising by blending the “impact” of print with digital technology. Skiff’s partners on this front include Nielsen and comScore (NSDQ: SCOR) for media planning and analytics.
In addition to Fuchsberg, who led the interactive services division for Interpublic Group, Skiff’s execs include vets from Sony’s Digital Reader launch, Intel (NSDQ: INTC), Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) and Apple (NSDQ: AAPL).
Posted In: Advertising, Gadgets, Media & Publishing, Books, e-readers, Magazines, Newspapers, Companies, Hearst
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