IDG is expected to announce that it will stop publishing the print edition of Infoworld, its enterprise-focused technology weekly magazine. Reports from Valleywag and Sam Whitmore’s Media Survey also have confirmed rumors.

Infoworld has provided technical analysis and reviews on key products, solutions, and technologies for almost three decades.

This is not unlike every challenge that most tech magazines, and magazines in general, face in the current shift to online, socialized media.

In the last boom, many publications profited from the seemingly endless infusion of advertising dollars, only to eventually succumb to the markets which helped them flourish. Industry Standard, Upside, Red Herring, Line56, etc., were among the several premier titles that folded as a result of the bust.

Red Herring was brought back to life by Alex Vieux in an attempt to cash-in on the new Web 2.0 resurgence. The company, however, is running into a new set of business challenges that plague the entire print publishing industry; how to succeed when the world is shifting online for its news and information. And, it doesn’t help that popular tech blogs and rapidly expanding new media empires such as TechCrunch and GigaOm are not leaving much room for profitable competitors.

A few titles from the dot com era, Wired, Fast Company, and Business 2.0, have figured it out and continue to prosper. These publication broadened and sensationalized their content for a wider business audience than the typical Silicon Valley echo chamber, running compelling, but separate, content online and in print to keep readers coming back.

For now, Infoworld will remain online, and knowing Steve Fox and Ephraim Schwartz personally, they will ensure that it continues to be a top information source for IT professionals who rely on qualified news and hands-on reviews.

Update: New voices on Infoworld shuttering its print edition
Paidcontent
Shel Israel
Scott Karp – Publishing 2.0
Matt McAlister
Jessica Guynn – SFGate
Robert Scoble

Update: San Francisco Chronicle is rumored to be in deep financial trouble per Tim O’Reilly. According to O’Reilly, “Phil Bronstein, the editor-in-chief, told staff in a recent “emergency meeting” that the news business “is broken, and no one knows how to fix it.”

Robert Scoble wrote, “On November 18, 2005, I told San Jose State’s Journalism school that my son would never subscribe to, nor read, a newspaper. The industry has NOT invested in its future. It is reaping the rewards of that.”

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