As Apple’s game changing iPad sends the media community buzzing, perspective from a leading digital publishing provider offers an inside perspective on the E-Reading Revolution.

Interviewed a few days prior to the iPad release, Carl Scholz, COO of Texterity, said that the device would be a game-changer and possibly a death knell for E-Ink solutions that, despite their best efforts, still function like paper.

“To be successful, future e-reading devices will have to be far more engaging, compelling and interactive. They’ll have to offer much more than the digital and print components we see today,”
said Scholz. He went on to cite the Sports Illustrated edition and Bonnier’s R & D device as promising examples that demonstrate fluidity and the “cool factor” with photos opening into game coverage and qualities reminiscent of the Minority Report.

“With E-Ink, all that fluidity is stifled,” Scholz explains. “You can’t smoothly go back to the Table of Contents, you can’t swipe to change elements, and most platforms are black and white.” Basically, he’s not waiting for E-ink to solve the problems.

Texterity is currently developing its native magazine-branded iPhone app [http://www.texterity.com/iphone] with other reading platforms in mind. This full color, non-Flash solution [http://info.texterity.com/info/iphone#pg1] integrates the digital edition, web content, and social media for a one-stop reading experience.

One of the greatest challenges Scholz sees is scale -- being able to maintain the E-reading quality and interactivity, issue in and issue out. “Why is that different from what you do now?” he was asked, “After all, Texterity already handles a thousand publications.”

Right now there are no industry standards with production and digital providers like Texterity will have to anticipate multiple devices. “Part of the complexity stems from a change in pre-press,” Scholz said. “We’d no longer be working from page PDFs, but ‘chunks’ of content. That means instead of receiving 100 PDF pages stitched together, we might get a 5-page article and stack of ads. That opens up another can of worms: who dictates the layout – the publisher or us?”

Right now, digital editions are praised for their brand and design integrity. What you see in print is what you see online. That’s a big selling point for large screen computer viewing, but not necessarily so for the smaller screen.

One of the most promising things Scholz sees in the E-reading future is the ability to personalize magazine content, much as Web users can set preferences to receive sports, fashion or local headlines from a news site. “Ideally, we will be able to create a system that allows readers to specify and organize the content they receive – to select what they want and how they want to view it,” Scholz said. “To do this right, we’ll have to back into the publishing work flow in order to handle these “consumable units” of content.”

This will force us to think in tiers of possibility, Scholz continues. “We’ll need to identify the “must haves” that the publisher absolutely requires, the “nice to haves” that the publisher wants to offer, and the “whatever works” which will most likely be elements that we can incorporate if they fit but ditch if they don’t.”

Basically Scholz feels the E-Reading revolution will trigger a new mind set among publishers as well as consumers. While much attention has been given to the public who can now consume content whenever they want, wherever they are, Scholz pauses to consider the editor who is suddenly giving up key publishing control.

Would educating editors help the process? Scholz feels that schooling editors and providing the tools they need to operate in this changing environment is something a full-service provider like Texterity should consider.

“Somehow we’re going to have to give editors and print production people ways to compare their content across many different devices so they can establish guidelines to maintain the integrity of their brand and style.”

But this is just the tip of the iceberg Scholz elaborates. Imagine the capability of ad customization and the concept of B2i (Business to Individual) delivery. The possibilities are endless. Certainly, if an e-subscriber can customize the editorial content they receive, they should be able to customize the advertising content they receive as well. But does this mean they would be able to block ads altogether? Publishers won’t go for that. But what if an e-subscriber who likes red shirts could request that the ad he sees features red shirts instead of blue? This specialization could trigger more business for advertisers because prospects would be predisposed to buy. Catalog printers are doing this already with database marketing and small run presses, so the idea isn’t far-fetched.

“E-reading will definitely empower the reader,” Scholz believes. He gives the example of Tivo where you can search for an actor’s name and locate a roster of programs in which that actor appears. It’s up to you – the information consumer – to accept that selection with a thumbs up or delete it with a thumbs down. So with an E-reader.

Scholz is quick to credit E-ink innovators for taking a good first step in creating a special purpose device, especially appropriate for books and maybe newspapers, but unless you read magazines purely front to back, he just doesn’t see the practicality for magazines.

Will a premier, well-integrated E-reading device take traffic away from the web? (The interviewer knows that despite concerns, digital editions actually enhance web traffic with cross-channel integration). Perhaps, Scholz, admits – especially if publishers can monetize the E-reading audience and command higher rates from advertisers. They might also be able to sell E-reading content more effectively whereas web content is usually perceived as free.

Scholz is far from ready to predict a “web wasteland” in preference for E-readers, as he reiterates that large format E-reading platforms are not as portable as a phone which more typically rides in your pocket at all times. However, he certainly envisions an industry shift that will change the way publishers produce content, how digital providers handle it, and how readers consume it. Welcome to some exciting times.