• The Next Web, Monday, June 14, 2010 2:48 PM

News Corp. on Monday said it bought e-reader software company Skiff, and made a strategic investment in Journalism Online, which promotes paid news models. "So in one fell swoop, News Corp just announced to the world that it is going to take on the Kindle, iBooks and all feed reader apps out there," concludes The Next Web.

"There is no other way to look at this." Got it?! Not sure of the broader implications, however, The Next Web asks: "Is this just to support the WSJ subscription service or is this also a sideways attack on blogging as well? What's a 'premium' journalist anyway? Maybe Skiff offers HTML in gold e-reader ink?" Another possibility is that News Corp. is considering giving Apple's iPad a run for its money. Sure, the publisher lacks the expertise to beat Apple in design or technology, but content could take center stage on the would-be device, and likely retail for far less than an iPad. Regarding video, The Next Web writes: "With MySpace, Hulu, 20th Century Fox, Fox, and Fox News, News Corp has tremendous video content that could possibly be transitioned to a tablet through custom apps."

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