RJI Mobile BlogClyde Bentley suggests that
newspapers start preparing for the coming dominance of the mobile Web by getting smartphones for key newsroom editors in the next three months and fully integrating mobile and online newsroom operations by December of 2012. Bentley, a professor of Journalism at the University of Missouri and a fellow at the Reynolds Journalism Institute, was reacting to a study last week by
Gartner Research that indicated mobile devices would be the dominant Web browsing platform by 2013. According to Bentley, "If Gartner's prediction is accurate, newspapers really have just 18-24 months to position themselves as the leading news content provider for mobile platforms." Among other milestones he proposes for newspapers to meet the challenge: by May 2010 designate mobile editors; by August 2012 provide augmented reality stories and ads, and by October 2012 offer Web-enabled handsets as subscription premiums.
