MEDIA MARKET DATA - World Association of Newspapers

last year but Fujitsu has shown a prototype for the first time in Britain at an InnovationsForum in Windsor this week. Fujitsu puts it under the heading of e-paper because it isbistable, which means it retains its image between rewrites without drawing power, and isfairly flexible. The prototype at Windsor was in a rigid frame but judging from Fujitsu'spictures it can be bent round an arc of about 3in radius - not tight enough for use as a scrolloutscreen in a pocket device, which is one suggested application of flexible screens.The brightness and colours fell far short of what you would expect from paper; butpresumably the quality will improve. The screen is reflective, and so does not require thepower-hungry backlighting of most LCD screens. It is also, says Fujitsu, more efficient in itsuse of light because it does not use adjacent RGB filters that reject two thirds of the light thatfalls on them (green and blue light falling on a red filter is wasted). The fact that the screenscan be updated wirelessly does not mean that they will be. Smart cards have to be very closeto their wireless power source, and the available energy drops off rapidly with the square ofthe distance. http://www.pcw.co.uk/personal-computer-world/news/2150137/paper-powerwireless;February 10, 2006Mobile Telephony & NewspapersGlobalMobile technology firm Refresh Mobile has launched a new service, called Mobizines, thatlets magazine publishers distribute their content to mobile users. Following a pilot scheme, anumber of media houses including Condé Nast and ITV have signed up to the service, toallow consumers access mini versions of their content. Mobizines allow mobile phone usersto receive ‘snack sized’ versions of their favourite magazines rich format. The firm said theservice is available to all mobile users, regardless of operator, and can be read without anetwork connection once downloaded. The customer can pay per edition along with a one offfee to download the software reader. The cost per edition varies by network but on averagecosts between 3 and 10p. To download Mobizines to the handset, the consumer texts 'Mobi'followed by the name of the Mobizine (e.g. TimeOut) to 63333 and follows the instructions todownload. Mobizines are typically made up of 4 sections and each of these sections contains5 stories. For example, the TimeOut Mobizine sections are Films, Restaurants, Music and TipOf The Day. At the bottom of each story a user will find links to other stories, downloadablecontent or other relevant merchandising pertinent to that particular brand. The consumer canread each Mobizine as often as they like at no extra cost. This edition automatically getsupdated when the next edition is published. Content partners that feature in the currentportfolio of Mobizines are Condé Nast (GQ and Glamour), OK!, TimeOut, ITV, Daily Snack,TV Genius and sports news from TeamTalk. Refresh Mobile CEO Scott Beaumont, said:“Until now, neither brands nor advertisers have been able to take advantage of the intimaterelationship that consumers have with their mobile. “At the same time, advertisers can beginto target their customers directly and build a relationship through contextual adverts which aremeaningful to the reader,” Beaumont added.http://www.netimperative.com/2006/02/06/mini_magazines; February 6, 2006United KingdomT-Mobile has just launched what it is billing as the first newspaper for phone users. Slated tocost £6 per month, although it is free until October, the News Express service features news,sports and entertainment gossip along with regional weather maps of the UK. The news isactually pushed to phones (there are two editions one in the morning and one in the evening)and stored on them. So unlike Wap pages you don’t have to go on line to access it, which55