eWeek
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (July 2010) |
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| Editor-in-Chief | Chris Preimesberger (since 2018) |
|---|---|
| Categories | Computer magazine, Business magazine |
| Frequency | online only |
| Circulation | 20M pageviews/year |
| Founded | 1983 |
| Company | QuinStreet |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Website | eweek |
| ISSN | 1530-6283 |
eWeek (Enterprise Newsweekly, stylized as eWEEK), formerly PCWeek,[1] is a technology and business magazine, owned by Foster City, California marketing company QuinStreet. Quinstreet acquired the magazine in 2012 from Internet company Ziff Davis, along with Baseline.com, ChannelInsider.com, CIOInsight.com, and WebBuyersGuide.com.[2]
eWeek was started under the name PCWeek on Feb. 28, 1984.[3] The magazine was called PCWeek until 2000,[1] during which time it covered the rise of business computing in America; as eWeek, it increased its online presence and covers more kinds of worldwide technologies.
History
The magazine was started by Ziff Davis[1] to cover the use of computers as business tools.
Team members that started PCWeek included John Dodge, the first news editor; Lois Paul, the first features editor; and Sam Whitmore, the first reporter, who later went on to become editor-in-chief.[4]
Chris Dobbrow, who "joined Ziff Davis Media ... as the associate publisher of PC Week, ... worked his way up the ladder at Ziff Davis, ... eventually becoming executive vice president." A short story in The New York Times about him said "He left in 2000 to join ... Last week, ... landed .. At eWeek. As the publisher. One step above the job he had 15 years ago."[1]
At the time, many magazines at the time already covered business computing, such as Datamation and Computerworld. There were also magazines dedicated to hobbyist machines, so it seemed there was no place for a weekly issue to fit in. The first few issues had only 22 pages of advertising, but then PCWeek began establishing itself. By the end of the first year, the average number of advertising pages for the last month was 74.875.[citation needed]
covering The New York Times
Twice eWeek had stories about The New York Times having its guard down:
- The Times' web site infected computers of on-line subscribers one weekend in 2009[5]
- Midweek, even more visibly that above, the Times' website was down for over two hours, mid-day; the magazine used the word "nefarious."[6]
Buyers' guides
John Pallatto, a writer for PCWeek in its first year, produced a full buyer's guide on all DOS-compatible PCs on the market.[7]
Early promotional publications from PCWeek show them describing their key audience as "volume buyers", that is, people and companies that would buy PCs in bulk for business purposes.[citation needed] With this the magazine was able to show big computer companies that advertising in an issue of PCWeek was the best possible way to get their product seen by the biggest and most important buyers.
Later success
PCWeek grew. Scot Peterson became eWeek's main editor in 2005, having been, a Ziff-Davis employee since 1995, and previously held the title news editor.[8]
People involved in between PCWeek's initial success and change to eWeek were David Strom, Sam Whitmore, Mike Edelhart, Gina Smith, Peter Coffee, Paul Bonner, current editor Chris Preimesberger and many others.[9]
Jim Louderback, a lab director at PCWeek as of 1991, describes how they were able to "get a product in on Wednesday, review it, and have it on the front page on Monday" and that "that was something we were the first to do".[3]
Leading up to its name-change, PCWeek began building an online presence. They were one of the first magazines to do so, and they had reviews about and coverage of the emergence of the World Wide Web that were "ahead of the game".[3] The switch to the name eWeek and an even greater online presence was overseen by Eric Lundquist, editor-in-chief at the time.
Finally, in 2012, eWeek and other Ziff Davis assets were acquired by the company QuinStreet, which also runs other tech-oriented publications.[2]
Evolution
PCWeek evolved as the whole PC Industry evolved. The magazine also developed a very active audience of people telling the team at PCWeek "about their experiences, good and bad.
In the 21st century, business PCs have gone from "supporting" businesses to "driving" them, and there's been an increasing need for "unbiased, expert testing of the technology". eWeek has become much more oriented towards "Lab-based product evaluation" as a result of this.[3] In terms of news, eWeek now covers all different sorts of tech, and they focus mainly on things like cloud computing, mobile technology, data center and infrastructure, security and enterprise applications, as well as IT careers and leadership information.[10]
eWeek has stated their mission as hoping to provide technology decision-makers with a mix of breaking news, analysis, trends, and reviews to help them make educated IT buying decisions.[10]
Influence
PCWeek had a key influence on the PC Industry that it covered. The magazines success contributed to the success of business PCs just as the success of business PCs contributed to the success of PCWeek. Following the magazine's success, "Anybody who had anything to do with buying PC products in a corporate environment" sought after access to a PCWeek subscription.[7] John Pallatto characterizes the rise of PCs in 1985 as a "social phenomenon", and says that "the most sought-after status symbol on Wall Street in 1985... was the key to unlock the power switch on an IBM PC AT".
The stories PCWeek covered were also important, and ended up having noticeable effects on the industry. Each issue would break stories that would completely spoil the secret plans of some big tech company, resulting in faster adoption of new technologies as information was spread about them before they were even out. One story from PCWeek that is well known is their coverage of "the famous 1994 flaw in the numerical processor in Intel's Pentium chip". The news they broke on Intel's processor, along with other research, cause Intel to actually pull back and fix their chips before offering new ones.[3] Another famous part of PCWeek was the fictional gossip columnist by the name of "Spencer F. Katt". The column would cover all sorts of rumors and gossip about the PC Industry, and the character of Spencer F. Katt became a famous icon of the entire world of computing.[3]
Current editor in chief Chris Preimesberger, who joined eWEEK in 2005 as a free-lancer, now runs a staff consisting of mostly free-lancers, many of whom have worked full time for eWEEK in the past and at other IT publications. The readership has been loyal through the years and now consists mostly of veteran IT professionals, company executives, software developers, investors and other people interested in the ebb and flow of the IT business and trends in products and services.
The publication prides itself on examining real-world solutions, providing interesting use cases called IT science articles, and a large and growing company and product library that is updating on a regular basis. It is designed specifically for IT buyers who are looking ahead at trends and determining whether new technology is in order for their companies.
Training
After 14 years at PC week, Sam Whitmore started his own firm (Media Survey). The latter, after over 2 decades, began a fellowship to train future reporters.[4]
References
- ^ a b c d Mark A. Stein (June 29, 2003). "Private Sector; Turns Out, You Can Go Home Again". The New York Times.
- ^ a b Sean Callahan (February 6, 2012). "QuinStreet acquires Ziff Davis Enterprise". Ad Week. Retrieved June 2, 2014.
- ^ a b c d e f "eWEEK at 25: A Look at the Publication's Audacious Beginnings and Exciting Future". eWEEK. Retrieved 2017-05-18.
- ^ a b John Thomey (June 8, 2018). "Investing in a Reporter's Most Valuable Skill — Fact-Finding: Q&A with Sam Whitmore".
- ^ Brian Prince (September 14, 2009). "NYTimes.com Users Hit by Malicious Ad".
- ^ Sean Michael Kerner (August 15, 2013). "Was 'The New York Times' Hacked?".
- ^ a b "PC WEEK/eWEEK: Chronicler of the PC Revolution for 25 years". eWEEK. Retrieved 2017-05-18.
- ^ "Peterson named editor of 'eWeek'". Advertising Age. January 4, 2005.
- ^ David Strom (2013-08-06). "In tribute to PC Week's original staffers". David Strom's Web Informant. Retrieved 2017-05-18.
- ^ a b "eWEEK Magazine Increases Investment in Editorial & Circulation; Reveals New Look". PR Newswire. April 7, 2003. Retrieved January 18, 2017.