GigaOM Pro

With rock solid content and technology partners, Skiff's prospects are good. But will consumers pay for digital content with print-like ads?

The digital media industry is in its infancy, but giants like Amazon and Barnes & Noble are realizing the potential of the e-book market. Although Amazon will not divulge sales figures for its Kindle electronic book readers, analysts estimate as many as 1.5 million have been sold this year. B&N has only just released its Nook reader, but early orders have outpaced production, and the company is already increasing capacity to keep up. The e-book market is definitely hot right now, but is it strong enough for an upstart like Skiff to save Hearst from the print business?