Esquire unveils "revolutionary" magazine cover
A revolutionary and top-secret Esquire magazine cover was revealed this morning on NBC’s “The Today Show.”
The magazine’s 75th anniversary cover – the first mass-produced glossy magazine cover featuring electronic ink – has an inset that electrically sorts tiny black or white capsules to read, “The 21st Century Begins Now.”
A computer chip allows the 10-square-inch display to present parts of the phrase in succession before the entire sentence blinks together.
That technology originated in Cambridge at E Ink Corp., where the Esquire project was seen as one step toward a paperless future.
Esquire’s parent company, Hearst Corp., is an investor at E Ink, and plans to print 100,000 copies of the special October issue, to be sold at Barnes & Noble and Borders bookstores this week.
Copies featuring the E Ink technology will cost $2 more than the regular newsstand price of $3.99.
Esquire editor David Granger declined to reveal the project’s cost in his interview with Matt Lauer, but each electronic ink unit costs $8 to $10 per copy, Granger told the Globe. Part of that cost was offset by selling electronic ink ad space to Ford Motor Co.
Granger said the issue’s theme pronounces a new century after eight years of “more pessimism than America is used to” following the attacks of September 11.
A list of the 21st century’s 75 most influential people highlights the issue. Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama made the cut, but his Republican counterpart, John McCain, did not. Other honorees included politicians Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton, comedian John Stewart, actress Scarlett Johansson, and basketball star LeBron James.
The anniversary issue continues the publication’s mission of “showing men a certain level of ambition they can aspire to,” Granger said.
(By Erich P. Schwartzel, Globe correspondent)
