Companies across the media industry are racing to get their eReaders in the hands of consumers, which means big change for the publishing industry and the media business overall. Organizations are scrambling to ensure that their readership is not lost as the reading habits of their long-time consumers are redefined by the upheaval caused by the new wave of eReaders.
With Apple's iPad release scheduled for April 3, the Paley Center gathered a group of senior media executives to discuss strategies for how the media industry can most effectively retain consumer loyalty as well as capitalize on one of the most talked about new gadgets of 2010.
Moderator: Josh Quittner, Editor-at-Large, TIME
Panelists:
Brooke Gladstone, Host and Managing Editor, On The Media, NPR Keith McAllister, Online Editor, Reuters Scott R. Singer, Managing Director and Head of Media & Entertainment, The Bank Street Group, and author, How To Hit A Curveball: Confront and Overcome the Unexpected in Business Kiliaen Van Rensselaer, Chief Marketing Officer, Skiff
Bio
Brooke Gladstone
Brooke Gladstone is an American journalist and media analyst. She is host and managing editor of the National Public Radio newsmagazine, On the Media, and has been a contributor to The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, The Observer, and Slate. Gladstone lectures at universities and conferences and has appeared on PBS's Bill Moyers Journal and CNN's Reliable Sources (and once filled in for Charlie Rose on PBS's Charlie Rose Show.) She is widely quoted as an expert on press trends.
Keith McAllister
Keith McAllister is an online editor for Reuters.
Josh Quittner
Joshua Quittner is an American journalist. Until September 2007, he was editor of Time Inc.'s Business 2.0, which he joined in April 2002 after seven years at Time Magazine, where he served as technology editor and the editor of its spinoff technology supplement Time Digital (later called ON Magazine). After Business 2.0, he served briefly as an executive editor at Fortune Magazine, working out of its San Francisco bureau, before rejoining Time in April 2008 as an editor-at-large.
J. Max Robins
J. Max Robins is the vice president and executive director of The Paley Center for Media's Industry Programs. Robins joined the Paley Center from Broadcasting & Cable magazine, where he was editor-in-chief. Before B&C, he was an editor and columnist at TV Guide and Variety.
Scott R Singer
Scott R. Singer is Managing Director and Head of Media & Entertainment at The Bank Street Group and the author of How To Hit A Curveball: Confront and Overcome the Unexpected in Business.
Kiliaen Van Rensselaer
Kiliaen Van Rensselaer has over 17 years of expertise in consumer packaged goods, brand management, wireless, eCommerce and CRM. Most recently Kiliaen served as Executive Director of National Marketing at AT&T Mobility (formerly Cingular Wireless), where he leveraged upstream products, pricing, promotions, merchandising, advertising, partnerships, sponsorships, youth & senior-segment marketing to bring in new subscribers and drive revenue. He completed the launch phase of the iPhone exclusive joint product with Apple and was the lead marketing executive on the deal team that structured the agreement. Kiliaen also was involved in guiding and evolving the strategy for the Raising the Bar campaign, credited with sustaining Cingular's leadership market share in the U.S. Kiliaen joined AT&T Wireless in 2003 and served in several positions of increasing responsibility. Prior to AT&T, he held various senior positions including Vice President of Marketing at Tickets.com, a start-up that became a publicly traded B2B and B2C ticketing solutions and software provider for live events; and was previously a Brand Manager at Colgate-Palmolive as well as the HJ Heinz Company. Kiliaen holds a BA with honors in History from Trinity College.
Microcomputer design and manufacturing company, the first successful personal-computer company. It was founded in 1976 by Steven P. Jobs and Stephen G. Wozniak, whose first computer was manufactured in the Jobs family's garage. The Apple II (1977), with its plastic case and colour graphics, launched the company to success, earning Apple over $100 million by 1980, the year the company first offered stock to the public. The 1981 introduction of IBM's PC, running a Microsoft Corp. operating system, marked the beginning of long-term competition for Apple in the personal-computer market. The Macintosh, introduced in 1984, was the first personal computer to use a graphical user interface and a mouse. The “Mac” initially sold poorly, and Jobs left the company in 1985, but eventually it found its niche in the desktop publishing market. Meanwhile, Microsoft's Windows operating system eroded Apple's market share. Apple recalled Jobs in 1997. He returned the company to profitability by introducing more innovative products, such as the iMac. Apple introduced iTunes, software for playing music that has been converted to the MP3 format, and the iPod portable MP3 music player in 2001; in 2003 the company began selling downloadable copies of major record company songs in MP3 format over the Internet.
In the information age, where information is abundant no one is going to pay for information. Wake up guys, Its like trying to sell sand in the sahara.
I like the talk a lot. It really gave me a new insight to this issue. But I have to disagree with the panelists on the point that people will not be very happy paying, if media such youtube or online newspapers started charging people. I think they should find a different way to monetize their media eg. advertising through their site. The internet is such a big source to so many individuals that it becomes hard to say whether they would still visit their site if they were to put a price on it.
This is a good talk. I appreciated the industry insight, especially the comments about the real numbers. Magazines are actually doing well, book sales are doing well. Really well, and add the Ebooks in the mix and book sales aren't down at all. VERY INTERESTING.
member. 
