Abstract

The pathway to the complete digitisation and substitution of printed press is now a reality. The imminent commercialisation of new mobile devices using e-ink, licensed by Philips, and especially the new model of Sony’s Portable Reader System in Spain (announced for Spring 2009), a determined commercial strategy, and incipient research by some Spanish newspapers make us wonder whether we are facing the end of the printed press. At the moment, the new devices are much better than their predecessors, but enough problems remain to make us doubt that we are at the beginning of the end of newsprint. The strengths of some other devices that differ from the e-book but could eventually be able to present books or newspaper on their screens, such as iPhone-like cell phones or Amazon’s Kindle (not yet available in Spain) opens an interesting era of competition and convergence