A Look Back, A Look Ahead
By Steve Smith -- TWICE, 6/5/2006
News publications like TWICE are not in the history business. And rarely do we congratulate ourselves. Yet there are special times when even a newspaper like this one should pause and look back at what's happened over the years and what may be ahead.
We think such an occasion is TWICE's 20th anniversary, which we will celebrate with a special issue on Aug. 28. We are also marking this year with a special anniversary logo that you can see for the first time on p. 1.
Now, 20 years is a significant milestone. But when one compares it to our sister publications here at Reed Business Information — Variety recently celebrated its 100th year and Broadcasting & Cable, marked its 75th — TWICE has a ways to go to meet those numbers.
Yet, as it has been written by this reporter and mentioned by several others in TWICE, one calendar year in the consumer electronics industry has more changes than two or three years in other industries. And I dare say that the changes in consumer electronics during the past 20-year period has been the most dramatic and prolific ever seen in its history.
There has been the introduction of the compact disc for music and then data; the popularity of VCR, which transitioned to its successor, DVD; computers of all shapes and sizes; digital still cameras; the popularity of today's fully configured cellular phones; MP3 players and iPod; digital home satellite TV and satellite radio. And did I mention the transition to high-definition television, the Internet, e-mail and the many, many changes at retail and in manufacturing?
I know. I probably forgot a ton more.
The point is that while the Aug. 28 issue in part will discuss TWICE's development and have remembrances by key staffers from over the years, the focus of this special edition is the development of the industry and you, our readers.
For those of you who have been loyal readers for the past 20 years, you'll remember certain stories and probably see industry friends and competitors from years gone by. For those of you who are relatively new to the business, I'm guessing that you'll be amazed at some of the industry's innovations over the years ... and then scratch your heads as to how some in the business could have been so dumb. Twenty-twenty hindsight is often like that.
But this edition of TWICE will not be a nostalgia piece. Heck, this is consumer electronics (and major appliances by the way), so we will frame some of our coverage with a look ahead to what developments TWICE may cover in the next 20 years.
We've already begun working on this special issue. For all of us here producing this issue it will be a lot of hard work, but a lot of fun. Which are the main reasons I joined TWICE in the first place.
TWICE eNews Daily Debuts Today
Speaking of the future, it has just arrived. For those of you too busy to visit www.TWICE.com two or three times a day to see what's going on in the industry, we are introducing the TWICE eNews Daily. The daily e-mail will contain the latest news plus a special feature focusing on different industry categories. It will replace the weekly version that now arrives on Monday morning. For more details on TWICE eNews Daily, visit www.TWICE.com. Let us know what you think of this new service, and of course continue to visit us online whenever you want.
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