E-Readers Fall Short for News, Study Says
The newspaper industry is struggling to hold onto its audience, and e-readers such as the Kindle may not help, according to a new University of Georgia study.
Among its findings: Younger consumers find the Kindle “old” compared to their smart phones, while older consumers miss the traditional newspaper fixtures that they get in the print edition.
During the six-month study, conducted by the university’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, participants read the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on the Amazon (AMZN) reader and provided feedback.
For younger adults, the Kindle fell short because it lacked a touch screen and multiple applications–from music to surfing the Internet–available in many smart phones.
Older adults were overall more receptive to the concept of an e-reader, but missed the crossword puzzles and comics available in traditional papers.
