Laurence Marchini, former Editor of Electronics Express and Electronicstalk and proof that editors can work remotely (he edited UK-based Electronicstalk from Australia!) has teamed with Stuart Willett and Ian Channing to launch What’s New In Mobile. The site isn’t yet up and running – it will be launched in February 2009 to coincide with 3GSM – but I’d expect a similar approach to Electronicstalk, with wide coverage releases about mobile communications.
In addition to display ads, the site will offer advertorials that include longer stories, and multimedia content, such as additional photography, slide shows and even video.
Interestingly the site promises to cover topics “from chipsets to handsets – and beyond”, with product coverage including components and Antennae.
As always it is great to see launches of new media that cover our industry. Having just written a post about the launch of Medtronic Journal, I’m more than ever convinced that vertical titles offer the best opportunities for publishers over the next year or so. Hopefully this site will make money, and I’ll be interested to see how What’s New in Mobile manages to differentiate the free editorial and paid-for advertorial. This approach of offering photos in editorial, with payment for longer articles and multimedia seems like a great model for today, although it may be a challenge to position video as “premium content” in a 2 to 3 years time.