Bleak future for newspaper hawkers

Samarjit Kambam *

It is really mind-boggling and hard to believe the pace with which new electronic gadgets with newer features are coming up within such short notice. Ordinary Televisions are almost getting extinct with emergence of LCD, Plasma and LED TVs.

These new smart TVs occupy less space, have higher picture clarity, high contrast ratios and higher resolutions, less radiation, Bluetooth, lightweight, motion sensitive, Digital Home-Theatre Sound System(DTS), consumes less power, have USB, Wi-Fi connectivity, 3-Dimensional Mode, computer Interface and even have 3G and many other features.

Ordinary TVs function by the mechanism of Electron Gun(Tube) but the new smart TVs function by the principle of reflection of light thereby functioning and sustaining with trivial electrical energy source. Mobile handsets with new features are coming up every week, new laptops and tablet PCs are coming out to the market for public use every fortnight on an average.

Same is the case with other electronics and electrical commercial and household appliances. It can be presumed that at this rate of advancement in technology, we will be witnessing many unexpected, wanted and unwanted phenomenons within the days to come.

The future of newspaper hawkers look bleak even though a deceptive calmness in the world of newspaper hawking is going on as usual. A few years from now, a protest of huge magnitude by newspaper hawkers is on the card. At this pace of advancement in technology, the present system of distribution of newspaper by hawkers near doorsteps will become history.

Garnering information from required sources has revolutionised the world of mass media with the advent of Tablet PCs. Such ultra slim piece of electronic delicacy has got every features a PC or a Laptop has but is more portable, light-weight, easier to carry, has android features, can be used for video calling and chatting, conferencing, access and browse millions of web pages where you can view, create and share.

In fact, a tablet race among the corporate giants is going on in the world. Now-a-days information from newspapers and magazines can be browsed through Tablet PCs, smart mobile phones, I-Pods etc. Mention may be made of Samsung Galaxy Series, Sony Xperia Series, Nokia Lumia Series etc.

Presently many governments and private corporations are clandestinely working on projects which will be revealed sooner or later be it the automobile industry, genetics, robotics, softwares, hardwares, weaponry, agriculture, nuclear, astronomy, extra-terrestrial etc etc.

During those nostalgic days when CD was unheard of and VCRs ruled the roost in video and audio media, Japan was the Numerous Uno of electronic products. Before mobile phones come out to public, Sony Corps in collaboration with Ericsson had already shown their mobile handset in James Bond movies during Sean Cannery's era.

With the development of Android – a Linux based operating system developed by Open Handset Alliance, an era of smart phones have dawned. Motorola company has Iridium mobile handsets (Believe it or not, Iridium's atomic number is 66 and Motorola has its own 66 tele-communication satellites circumnavigating the globe in a complex pattern and unique co-ordinates so that you can communicate or talk to anyone from any part of the planet whether you are in the Arctic or in the middle of Sahara Desert provided you possess an Iridium handset).

Many Asian countries also are jumping in the bandwagon of E-world. Now, one bolt from the blue to the newspaper hawkers is the impending arrival of flexible Tablets where many nations or group of nations are carrying on R & D on developing this piece of electronic marvel.

The volcanic lava of hawkers' woe will erupt once this flexible Tablet plasma screen which can be, unlike laptops or palmtops, folded manifold, scrambled in a lump and carried any where inside the pocket just like a piece of paper and can be stretched out or folded again.

It will have Global Positioning System and other multimedia and entertainment features. Such screens will have the capacity to garner light from both sides so that light energy can be harnessed thereby reducing the consumption of electric power to a great extent. Apple Inc., has production of its new I-Pod 6 series which is transparent and battery less and has already come out in the market for public use.

Once such flexible tablets come out in the market, the world of hawkers will collapse and the occupation of hawking will become a chronicle in the history of mass media. That will be the beginning of the end of newspaper hawking. At that stage, you can read different newspapers anywhere, any time and you need not require to wait for hawkers. That will become the future of newspapers and the need for hawkers will become void and null. It will no more be a science fiction but will become a reality.

So, hawkers beware! that unwanted scenario is lurking behind like a phantom and a new era in the world of newspaper will dawn.