Congratulations to LEM, who have won an award for their RT series of current transducers in the electrical measurement category of Mesures’ 15th Palmarès Technologique.

Tags: Awards, Clients, France

Thomas Industrial Media and European Business Press have got together to launch a new French title, Electronique C&I (Electronique Composant & Instrumentation). This is the second title in the electronics sector that has been launched since the closure of EPN France and the merging of Electronique and Electronique International (following the launch of ElectronicSpecifier France).

The new title will be edited by Alain Dieul – previously the editor or EPN France – and has a promised circulation of 10070 print readers and 3510 digital readers, exceeding the circulation of the market leading title ElectroniqueS by about 1/3. We’re promised three issues this year – May/June, Sept/Oct and Nov/Dec, and the title should have a quarterly frequency in the future.

Of course there is also a publication website, although this has a somewhat different brand of www.electronicselect.com. The brand is builds upon Thomas’ other “select” site for the industrial market.

The rate card is very similar to that of ElectroniqueS, with pages coming in slightly cheaper, but ElectroniqueS generally offering lower cost for fractionals. Of course Electronique C&I will offer a lower cost-per-thousand by virtue of its larger circulation. At this stage, all online ads are offered in a simple RoS CPM basis (apart from welcome ads, of course), although as traffic builds I’d hope to see some more innovation.

It will be interesting to see how the editorial content develops, although the publication is likely to be clearly placed in the “product book” category. It’s interesting that – despite many predictions – product books are still clinging to life (and represent the majority of publications in France). Whilst I do believe that there is – and always will be – a value in having new product coverage, I’m not convinced that another product book in France is the right thing for the market. My concern is that the success of the product book is primarily down to the much lower editorial cost, rather than a desire to meet the needs of the readers, and it will be interesting to see if both ElectronicSpecifier France and Electronique C&I will prosper in the long term.

Tags: Digital Magazines and Print Publications, electronicspecifier, Electronique C&I, ElectroniqueS, France

Now in its 19th year, IP-SOC has issued a call for papers. The event will be held in the beautiful French Alps on 30th November and 1st December 2010, and if you want to be in Grenoble you’ll have to get your submission in by 15th September 2010.

The conference is organized within 4 tracks that provide a wide range of insights from academic gurus presenting their ideas for the future to companies trying to sell products today. The four tracks are:

• The Panel track addressing hot topics
• Technical papers addressing the issues related to IP-based system design and in the Embedded System arenas
• Visionary scientific seminars
• The exhibitor track, offering sponsored speaking opportunities for companies

For more information, visit the website or contact Napier.

Tags: Call for Papers, France, Shows and Events

The organisers of the SAME 2010 Forum and the SAFA 2010 Workshop have issued a call for papers.

SAME invites technical papers covering System and Design; Integration; Security; Tools and Methodologies; Process and Manufacturing; Prototyping;  Verification; Validation; or Test, whereas the SAFA 2010 Workshop focuses on techniques around formal analysis.

Abstracts must be submitted by 17:00 CET on 19th April 2010, and full submission details are available on the website.

Tags: Call for Papers, France, Shows and Events

The Marketing Law website does a great job of highlighting the issues of running international marketing campaigns based on parody. Although parody is protected in countries such as France, Germany, Australia and the USA, the UK Government has chosen not to exempt it from copyright law in the UK. The site warns that “marketeers need to take care when using parody, caricature or pastiche in advertising, packaging or branding in the UK”. We are not amused!

Tags: Advertising, France, Germany, Misc Marketing, UK, USA

Although there has been no official announcement, I understand that one result of the sales of EE Times Europe is that local sites will be dropped, meaning that EE Times will no longer provide news in French and German. Although the publication had a number of local sites, the dropping of the other sites (Israel, Eastern Europe, etc) is unlikely to disappoint as the differences between the local and European sites were minimal. Although the crowded German market is perhaps a good reason why EE Times might not gain a significant share, it’s disappointing to see yet another publisher pull out of France. It’s inconceivable that the French market can only sustain one publication, and I hope to be able to tell you of a new launch in France before the end of the year.

Tags: EE Times, Europe, France, Germany, Israel, Online

The organisers of BATTERIES 2010, which will take place from September 29th to October 1st in CANNES-Mandelieu, French Riviera, have issued a call for papers. They’re asking all potential speakers to send a short abstract (100 to 300 words) as a PDF to c.pillot@avicenne.com & visinoni.monica@wanadoo.fr. The deadline for submissions is 30 January 2010.

Tags: Call for Papers, ESE, France, Shows and Events

Reed has decided to close EPE and EPN France, as well as switching EDN Europe to an all-digital circulation. I’ve written separate posts on each of the titles, but the extent of these cutbacks is shocking. It’s now time for new online titles with low-cost business models to launch: all these publications were able to generate a significant advertising revenue that would no doubt could be profitable for a different set-up.

At Napier we’ve seen the IT industry transformed with great online publications that generate great traffic and strong revenue. I hope there are entrepreneurial editors who can make the same thing happen in the European electronics media.

Tags: Advertising, Editors, EDN Europe, Electronics, EPE, EPN, EPN France, ESE, Europe, France, Online, Reed

Although not as high-profile as the closure of EPN France, Reed has also announced that they will be closing EPE at the end of the year. Whilst this decision still leaves Spain with a reasonable number of titles – unlike France – this is another disappointing move, particularly as the industry appears to be emerging from the economic downturn.

Tags: EPE, EPN, EPN France, France, Reed, Spain

Although not the first title to have 100% digital circulation (Electronic Design Europe has been digital-only for some years), the decision by Reed to switch EDN Europe to all-digital distribution will have a major impact on the European electronics media.

It’s disappointing to see Reed make such major cutbacks at a time when the industry appears to be recovering, but at least EDN Europe has escaped the fate of EPN France. Reed has also taken a realistic look at advertising rates, slashing them by two thirds, although the title will charge a premium for rich media and video content in the advert.

Of course the cut in advertising price is initially demanded because the circulation will, at first, fall dramatically (the digital circulation is currently only around 11K), but Reed confidently predict the circulation will more than double by the end of 2010. The good news is that Reed will continue to invest in high-quality circulation, promising that they will retain a BPA audit.

If Reed can create a business model that provides a significantly lower cost-per-thousand than print titles – and they certainly should do as the cost of digital distribution is so much less than printing and posting a hard copy – the move to digital circulation could be a success.

Tags: Advertising, EDN Europe, Electronics, EPN, EPN France, ESC, Europe, France, Reed, USA, Video

Reed has decided to close EPN France at the end of this year, despite the merger of Electronique and Electronique International from the beginning of 2010. This leaves just one major French publication. The EPN France website will also close at the end of 2009. The news was also announced at the same time Reed said they would distribute EDN Europe only as a digital title from January 2010.

I’m amazed that Reed feel they can’t make money with one of just two French titles. Although the German electronics market is somewhat larger than the French market, the vast disparity between the number of publications in each market makes no sense.

At Napier we saw a similar collapse in the French IT print media, but this resulted in a number of new online publications. The electronics market has yet to see many online titles driven by “real” editorial content (rather than simply taking press release content). It will be interesting to see if online electronics sites are launched to create new vehicles to reach French engineers: I’d certainly back any new launches as it seems any reasonable site would be almost guaranteed to succeed!

Tags: EDN Europe, Electronics, Electronique, EPN, EPN France, Europe, France, Online, Reed

François Gauthier has been named as Editor in Chief of the new publication Electroniques, which was formed by merging Electronique and Electronique International. His responsibilities start with the first issue of 2009, due to be published on 20th January.

At the same time, Pascal Coutance has been named Editor in Chief “délégué”, responsible for the development of the Electronique.biz website. Pascal has been charged with development of other online channels, such as mobile and introducing new advertising formats. Interesting he will also define a strategy for for new products that are either chargeable as premium content or reserved for magazine subscribers. We’re promised an updated site will be launched at the start of 2010.

It’s taken a little while to get these two editorial positions confirmed, although I don’t read anything into this delay. I am, however, interested that there are clear plans to put some kind of paywall around content on the web, and wonder how easily this can be done. By limiting people who can access content, you’re going to limit page – and therefore advertising – impressions, so any such move must be made with care, otherwise it could end up reducing, rather than increasing overall revenue. Keep checking back at www.NapierNews.eu for more information on how this project develops!

Tags: Advertising, DATE, Digital Magazines and Print Publications, Editors, Electronique, ElectroniqueS, ESE, France, Online