Is Print really Dead?

Preparing for my next IS 714 class on a sunday evening, I started reading about how IT was impacting and transforming the publishing sector, especially the books, newspaper and magazine industries. I thought about how I spent most of my time getting the daily breaking news from my facebook friends who played editorial roles in providing me filtered information; or else reading the online edition of the wall street journal or business week on my smartphone; or else downloading an online edition of a textbook for school from Barnes & Nobel, for half the price, onto my laptop than buying the paper version.


I came across an interesting blog by Stephanie on a Penn Olson website. She talks about the same very changes in how the younger generation accesses information today. Alot of people while travelling in a subway,bus or flight use their iphones, ipads, tablets or kindles to get upto date information. We hardly see people picking up a newspaper and reading it when the internet is able to provide it to us for free, especially in wi-fi areas. But then there is also a large segment of the world population which isn't very tech savvy and would prefer the traditional way of getting information.

In emerging countries, paper based information is still very prevalent. But with latest technology entering those markets we see that content will no longer be limited to paper but graduate to electronic means. In the future, information will be in no shortage but how and through what means we view that information will determine the future and success of many businesses.


Saying that print is dead or not is very difficult. There are enough supporting points on either side of the argument.


Below are some interesting facts by Brian Young from Sketchee.


- A large percentage of U.S. citizens still read magazines – over 90%.


- Almost 60% of U.S. consumers plan to purchase a tablet in the next 3 years.

- Book sales aren’t decreasing, but e-book sales see a comparatively phenomenal growth of 204%