I was having an interesting conversation with my partner the other weekend over lunch in Balmain and we hit the topic about preferences with consuming media, the web or traditional newspaper. My response was the web of course: the web lets me scan the headlines, key stories by section and I can choose to read each article without necessarily needing to flip through other articles to get there. My partner was the complete opposite: he's quite content with the concept spending his brekkie or lunch going through the sections of the paper, browsing the headlines and then choosing which ones he wants to dedicate more reading time to.
Perhaps it's just that - whilst we get caught up with declining newspaper sales and fears of online cannabilising the traditional channel of readership, the latter does not seem to be at risk with being significantly threatened by the virtual paper.
Picture the weekend, couples and those flying solo with their cups of coffee and late brunches at the local cafe - unless Australia does something drastic with our WiFi rollout across metro regions, it is unlikely that we'll see the same people bringing their Netbooks out with them for their loungey sessions.
On the topic of WiFi, the last time I was involved at Optus was in 2006 when the NSW government was taking proposals from telcos on a free, public WiFi model. Considering they weren't even pondering the concept of any financial subsidy, I'd say we're a long way, away from getting better coverage in social places.
The iPhone and future of broadcast is another story though..that's for another day! :)
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