Hearst to Roll Out E-Reader for Newspapers, Magazines

Hearst Corporation aims to do for periodicals what the Kindle's doing for books with a new electronic reader, CNN reports. The company—which publishes an array of magazines and newspapers, including Cosmopolitan, Esquire and the San Francisco Chronicle—hopes the device will help cushion revenues in light of sinking ad revenue and rising paper and delivery costs.

The device is being designed with a bigger screen than Kindle to better approximate the experience of reading a newspaper or magazine, insiders say, with content from participating periodicals downloaded wirelessly. Hearst plans to license the reader to other publishers in return for a cut of revenue. The device, likely to have only a black and white display in early models, is expected to debut this year.