SkyMall Files for Bankruptcy, Blames Smartphone
February 5, 2015
The point, counterpoint articles on Ars Technica titled SkyMall, Killed By the Smartphone explore the end of SkyMall. It seems inevitable that the usage of personal electronic devices on airplanes would push SkyMall out of the picture. Who ever looked through one of those catalogues if they had anything better to do. The article states,
“Blame the FAA’s relaxation of its ban on the use of personal electronic devices by airline passengers. Could it ever have ended any other way?… SkyMall worked because it had a captive audience with nothing else to look at; now that we can keep browsing or playing Cwazy Cupcakes how could it compete? Perhaps the more surprising thing—to us, at any rate—was the fact that until now, the power of boredom evidently made a decent business model.”
While there is something to be said for the bizarre items and strange model poses in the SkyMall catalogue, it seems incontrovertible that they didn’t sell anything anyone actually needed. While this outcome of bankruptcy may be specific to the “boredom business model” of SkyMall, it might be making publishers nervous in other arenas as well. If everyone has a smartphone on which they can read, check emails, and play games, they won’t need a magazine to flip through.
Chelsea Kerwin, February 05, 2014
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
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