Sure, you could read the news on a portable device from a seasoned tech company, like Apple. But why turn to Apple for technology when you could buy something built by Time Inc. and a cartel of other desperate magazines?

Time Inc. said earlier this year it wasn't planning to join the rush of old-media companies like News Corp. and Hearst who are developing their own e-readers. But now, according to documents obtained by NBC Bay Area, the company has plans to rush out a prototype by the end of this year, possibly in cooperation with a hardware partner:

"Whoever defines the interface wins," [an internal Time Inc.] slide concludes. A slide labeled "Key components to the winning model" includes... "product design" including "tools for research, design innovation and manufacturing," which suggests plans for a physical gadget; and a "consumer-facing brand" — a name for the device and service akin to Amazon's Kindle.

The company is also exploring a joint venture with Condé Nast, Meredith and Hearst, according to the documents.

It's easy to understand how an e-reader project would appeal to beleaguered magazine executives. While their industry is crumbling , analysts have estimated sales of 800,000 or more Amazon Kindle e-readers, and there is some evidence that device has goosed book sales.

But Amazon opened up a new market, taking books once available only physically and offering them via instant electronic purchase. Magazines are already available on the Web in a format superior to the e-book, complete with comments, videos and these things called hyperlinks. If Time Inc. wants a financially healthy future, it should focus on growing in that medium, which it already has some experience with, rather than on a brand-new hardware device far outside its core competency.

Grand gestures, in other words, are no substitute for the grinding work of real change; one would think a company owned by Time Warner, of all entities, would know that by now.

UPDATE: Peter Kafka at AllThingsD hears from Time Warner sources that the company does not want to get into the hardware business.

(Pic by Angel Leon)

Send an email to Ryan Tate, the author of this post, at ryan@gawker.com.