Could Kindle 2 save the newspapers?

In a couple of days Amazon will launch a new big-screen ("reads like paper") Kindle 2 operating on an automatic 3G network.

Amazon offers Kindle subscriptions of 58 periodicals including the Wall Street Journal, Newsweek and the New York Times.

Putting two and two together, Brad Stone of the New York Times wonders if the Kindle might turn out to be a knight in digital armor. Perhaps it could save newspapers. Perhaps newspapers could use the Kindle to

"hit the reset button and return in some form to their original business model: selling subscriptions, and supporting their articles with ads."

More here.

Picture courtesy of RedOrbit

Also see: The one American business Buffett won't buy "any any price"
And: Journalism's future may lie in multimedia
And: Scholars call for tax credit for buying newspapers
And: Should the newspaper industry get a bailout?
And: A sustainable model emerges: Use collective intelligence but fact-check with journalists
And finally: Can selling news via the Web save newspapers?

3G technology promises more power to citizen journalists

A few amateur reporters using Twitter, Flickr and GroundReport became stars during the Mumbai terrorist attacks of Thanksgiving 2008 with riveting, even insightful, coverage.

Vinukumar Ranganathan, a software engineer, was one such star. In an interview with Kavitha Iyer of Mumbai's Indian Express today, Mr. Ranganathan offers a prediction for the future of newsgathering.

News, perhaps collected by unskilled folk, will be a huge source of raw material for mainstream media agencies to tap into. Once 3G comes in, it will actually be affordable to send live photographs and even videos from cellphones to people across the world.

See the Wikipedia entry for 3G here
Also read, "Some thoughts on citizen journalism and Mumbai"