Ever since the electronic book reader, Kindle, from Amazon Inc. hit the commercial markets, hardware manufacturers and publishers have been scrambling to figure out a way to beat the Kindle and put up a new technology that would render the Kindle redundant.

To achieve the same, five of the biggest names in publication in the United States, Time Inc., News Corp., Conde Nast, Hearst Corp., and Meredith Corp. have announced a combined push towards a technology that would enable them to provide users with digital version of their respective publications via new digital storefront platforms, that would rival Amazon’s electronic ink technology. The new techniques that the publishing coalition is aiming at is expected to provide the same amount of information as does Kindle, but would be rich in media, putting more stress on the visuals.

The famous five are also planning to embed videos, games and most importantly, social networking in their digital publications to attract more and more users, all while retaining the classic layout of the magazines and ensuring that, most devices are compatible with their technology. This new idea could easily work with many of the current serving mobile devices, such as tablet computers, electronic readers, smart phones and other similar devices that provide support for colored images.

According to John Squires, the interim managing director of the joint venture,

“The genesis of this idea is to build a fully featured kind of immersive e-reading application that can render our content beautifully on those devices that come to market. Kindle is a fantastic invention for reading books. It is not much of an experience for newspapers.”

Via PR Newswire.