The cost of publishing the publications on dead trees, then shipping them around the world versus what they take in via donations...Hmm...
I think the reason they're struggling to embrace the Internet is their basic nature: they're basically a publishing company. All their research and writing is done centrally by a small group, then physical copies are printed and sold.
It's not getting any easier to make people pay for books/magazines, but people do seem more willing to pay for something physical than, say, the privilege to read something online.
They've already taken a risk by putting their publications on CD, but to put them online would make it virtually impossible to charge or restrict access to anyone.
The news/media companies have also had it tough. But they're huge conglomerates, and they've had to find a solution fast. Thus, the "physical" newspaper industry has pretty much died out, and most newspapers are now online, and money is made off advertising.
But it's not so easy for Watchtower. Remember, they're supposed to be a "religion", not a company. So how would they justify publishing all their content along with advertising? Their own publications are highly critical of mainstream advertising and media.
So what can they do but ignore the Internet? (Or try!)
I like to raise this issue, because I want people to contemplate why Watchtower would refuse to use the most powerful communication technology in history.
The problem is that in third world countries people would not have web access so works better to print up material and send it where it needs to go
The number of Internet users in the 3rd world is growing faster than ever, especially in India. Overall, Internet growth follows the same exponential curve seen in most technology.
Mobile phones are used a lot in Africa, and more and more of these phones have access to the Internet.
Long-term, the Internet is the ideal way to get information to large numbers of people worldwide.
The "problem", of course, is that the Internet is a democratic, peer-to-peer system - not the familiar broadcast media that Watchtower have grown comfortable with.
Companies like Facebook exploit this, but for an organization like Watchtower, it works against them.
