Living Media scraps Computers Today; to launch Smart Inc

In a way, Smart Inc is the new avatar of Computers Today.

Come August, and Living Media Group's business division will launch Smart Inc, a magazine that, in the words of Barun Das, general manager, marketing, Business Today, "… deals with the application of technology for business profitability". Smart Inc will be a monthly magazine, sporting a cover price of Rs 100, that is, Rs 50 more that Computers Today. Hari Menon, earlier editor of Computers Today, will be the editor of the new magazine.

Talking about the latest initiative, Das says, "Computers Today has been shut down and Smart Inc can be called a revamp of Computers Today. Smart Inc would help understand how to apply relevant technology for various business applications. It is an ideal media vehicle for IT-related products and services and some upmarket brands like car and apparels brands." The publication will reach out to its target group through direct mailers; simultaneously the print campaign will be released in all leading magazines.

But there are two immediate concerns. First, whether there is space for another magazine in the IT space, and second, whether India Today will be able to pull off this new ambitious project. The reasons for this are not far to seek. Most important being the fact that the 16-year old Computers Today, one of the early players in the field, has proved to be an unsuccessful venture. According to industry sources, the reason for its failure can be attributed to a lack of focus and inadequate understanding and knowledge of the IT industry. "And if one sees the number IT publication houses and IT magazines that have been killed in the recent past, it is easy to understand that to survive in the IT space one requires tremendous expertise," says a source close to agencyfaqs!.

Take some recent examples. In 2001, Jasubhai Digital Media shut down Smart Computing, the much-touted Hindi computing magazine, computer games magazine Computer Gaming World, a magazine for Internet surfers called Net Compass, Tele.com, the magazine for the telecom industry, and, the most high profile of them all, CHIP. CHIP then partnered with media2media for a relaunch. That project too has reportedly been abandoned. media2media also scrapped another group magazine Mag.net. On its turn, the Media Transasia Group has long discontinued publishing its three IT magazines, Information Systems Computers World, PC World and Communications World.

Those that have managed to survive in this scenario are three magazines from the Jasubhai Group - Digit, Network Computing and Computer Reseller News (CRN); another seven from CyberMedia - Dataquest, PC Quest, Computers@Home, Voice & Data, DQ Channels India, DQ Week Delhi and DQ Chennai; and Express Group supplement Express Computers.

Hoshie Ghaswalla, vice-president, sales & marketing, CyberMedia Group, is skeptical about India Today group's ability to take this venture forward. "Publishing IT magazines is very different compared with any other from of publication. That is because IT magazines cover the fast-growing and ever-changing Information Technology industry. So to provide quality content, it is imperative to specialise on the IT industry. The India Today Group has not been able to make much headway in this particular segment. It has a very long way to go," he concludes.

That apart, Smart Inc will have to contend with the might of Times of India, which is a recent entrant in this segment with B Drive, a quarterly magazine priced at Rs 25. And not to forget, Dataquest, which has started covering this segment for more than a year now.

The segment, it seems, is poised for a fresh round of battle. © 2002 agencyfaqs!