What’s the point of having an e-paper anyway?

What’s the difference between an e-paper and having content on the site? That the e-paper is different for different cities, and has a familiar navigation, classifieds and supplements. Don’t tell me you can’t do that with a regular website, which is more searchable and accessible.

The usability and navigation of most newspaper websites in India is awful, and not all content is uploaded to the website. They will have to change, if not now, then maybe in a few years…

It will interesting to see how this pans out and if the NRI market shells out $10 a month.

Charing for content is a bit of a mixed bag...unless you have oustanding content like what Economist provides...it might be difficult to get consumers to pay. People are usually willing to pay for speclized, niche content...does Hindu’s e-paper fall in that category?

Kamla

Kamla,

Interesting point.
While the Hindu is no Economist, I can most definitely say this:
I’ve graduated from RECT and I know how popular Hindu is in that geo.
I’ve ersonally seen lots of people who are rabid fans of the paper.  Several of them swear by the Hindu crossword, others feel the Hindu still offers news and less masala, unlike the ToI & HT.
Whether these fans are rabid enough to shell up $10 monthly remains to be seen.