The Cole Digest, March 1, 1995

As we lead up to the Digital '95 conference, we'll be mixing media -- a few words about the Internet here, a few about WAIS there and, for the next couple of weeks, some discussion of personal digital assistants and alpha-numeric pagers.

Chris Feola, the technical guy in the newsroom at the Waterbury Republican-American in Connecticut, did some research for me on wireless publishing. Herewith, a piece of his report:

Immediate access to information is a matter of survival for businesses in the '90s, according to Apple Computer's Susan Schuman, manager of communications product planning for the Apple Newton.

"If you are reading yesterday's news while someone else is reading up-to-the-minute interactive news, you cannot compete," Schuman told Feola. "Newton is the beginning of the paradigm shift.

Information is more than news, she noted.

"You can't compete if you can't go to a farmer and tell him he can buy feed from you and instantly check if you have it or if you're out.

"If you can't go to a restaurant and sell produce without going back to the office and faxing an order to see if you have what they need in stock, you can't compete with the salespeople who can check on the spot."

This need for instant access to data shaped the Newton project. Wireless communications "were our vision from the start," Schuman said. "We all ultimately know what we want -- information any time, anywhere.

"One of the derivatives of Newton was that we saw people had multiple information channels -- e-mail, voice mail, corporate e-mail. Our goal was to merge them back together," Schuman said. "Some consistent view of every information channel coming in to you is extremely critical."

But while that view needs to be consistent across the information spectrum, it shouldn't just be some current media form slapped on-line, Schuman said.

"The question is, how do you craft that information? How do you electronicize that information? Yes, you navigate information when it is on-line, but what do you do that adds value over your competition?

"If all you are doing is sending [plain] text with headlines on it, there's no difference between what you are doing and what the Wall Street Journal or USA Today is doing," Schuman said. "That's where technology like the Newton comes in. It will allow you to sort and process information."

Schuman said the Newton will morph into a machine capable of "multiple media -- voice, data and video. Because when you take it with you, you will have access to everything everywhere."

To prepare for that day, she said, "the question for media companies is not just how they will supply major information such as wire services, but how do you take it and localize it?"

When do you start?

"If you don't start today you won't be here in 10 years," she said, "because you're going to have missed the boat."

Onward.

\dmc

[THE COLE DIGEST is written by consultant David M. Cole, editor and publisher of the industry newsletter THE COLE PAPERS. The DIGEST is made available to PressLink members every Wednesday at no extra charge. Send comments by e-mail to cole@plink.geis.com. The COLE DIGEST is the property of The Cole Group, a California sole proprietorship. Reproduction in whole or in part without the written permission of The Cole Group is prohibited. Copyright (C) 1995, The Cole Group. Opinions expressed are those of The Cole Group, unless otherwise noted.

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