New Skiff, likely to include the ads

We’ve all known it’s coming, but it seems it is now just a matter of time before ads start showing up in e-readers of all stripes. The Hearst corporation’s “Skiff,” an e-reader they plan to debut at the Consumer Electronics Show (Jan 7 – 10, 2011). Website eReader Chat is skeptical about the viability of the Skiff taking off in an already crowded e-reader marketplace, but notes:

Just about the only thing about the Skiff that really strikes me as intriguing is the partnership they’ve inked with Nielsen and comScore to handle advertising analytics for the device. Presumably, they’ll be able to tailor the advertising in the digital version of a magazine to suit a user’s particular reading habits. Do you read a lot of articles about travel? Expect to see a bunch of ads for Expedia and Travelocity. This is an area that Amazon and B&N haven’t even begun to broach yet, so it’ll be interesting to see how they handle it.

TMCNet.com offers a round-up of recent articles and blog postings about the looming possibility of ads on your Kindle, Nook or iPad, and quotes James McQuivey of Forrester speculating that someone like Google Books will move toward “creation of an ad-supported publishing model.” A large part of why I still gravitate toward physical books is the quiet, calm place they provide. But, I must say as algorithms and models improve, perhaps bad advertising won’t find you as often. If a publisher wants to offer 20% off the second book in a trilogy they know I’ve started, I’d be inclined to accept. Would you pay a premium not to have ads show up as you browse the e-version of the morning paper?