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MONDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2009
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 OPINION 
4

Dirt-Cheap Netbooks Might Save Media Industry

Paying for content, not hardware, is the key

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(Newser) – There might be hope yet for the media industry, “because the tech industry is screwed too,” writes Simon Dumenco for Advertising Age. With light, cheap netbooks squeezing the profit out of the hardware, makers are partnering with media providers (ie, Acer selling netbooks for $100, plus 2-year AT&T contract) to sell subscriptions that subsidize the ever-closer-to-free prices.

“Hardware makers may have no choice but to turn their Internet devices into multi-tier-subscription-based media machines, because there will never again be enough margin in the basic price of the hardware,” Dumenco writes. “And the more we get used to the idea of essentially subscribing to media as a way to pay for hardware ... well, the more hope there is for media.”

This Acer Aspire one netbook sells for $99.99, provided you subscribe to an AT&T broadband plan.
This Acer Aspire one netbook sells for $99.99, provided you subscribe to an AT&T broadband plan.   (PRNewsFoto)
A Lenovo netbook is displayed at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
A Lenovo netbook is displayed at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.   (AP Photo)
An Asus Eee PC 900SD netbook is demonstrated at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
An Asus Eee PC 900SD netbook is demonstrated at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.   (AP Photo)
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4 comments
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Timinator2K
Jun 9, 09 1:29 PM CDT
And then the media, like the cable companies and their content, will raise their prices every single year, year-in & year-out, higher and higher and higher until they squeeze the consumer to death. Oh well, its the American capitalist way, eh? Reply
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radnip
Jun 16, 09 1:44 PM CDT
And voters like it that way -- note how hard it is to do any kind of social services for everyone. Capitalists are doing much better than public schools, public roads, public healthcare.
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SPH
Jun 9, 09 4:54 PM CDT
It seems unlikely consumers will pay for BS.....No matter the source....If truly objective and factual reporting could once again be done, than maybe... Reply
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newzjunkie
Jun 9, 09 11:12 PM CDT
Ahhhh, factual reporting, good writing, fair and unbiased stories, reporters who aren't totally biased and egotistical. Sounds like the good ole days. I worked in many newsrooms over the years and watched that industry fly into the toiled, one story at a time.
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media • paid content • Acer • subscription • AT&T • Netbooks • Asus • newspaper industry • digital content

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