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SALT LAKE CITY -- Harry Potter mania is well underway as the final film in the series sets to debut next month, but what happens once the credits roll and there's nothing new coming from the Harry Potter universe? Well, fear not muggles, author J.K. Rowling has something up her sleeve.
The website Pottermore.com launched today and it's little more than a landing page with two owls and the words "Coming Soon" above Rowling's signature. If you click on either of the owls it will send you to a Youtube channel that simply has a countdown clock.
The debut of Pottermore followed the "Secret Street View" challenge. According to Digitalspy.com the challenge consisted of "Ten Potter websites… given co-ordinates which each pertained to a different letter in the Pottermore name, all of which were pieced together to reveal the website's address."
The Telegraph reports that Rowling's lawyer, Neil Blair, kept tight lipped about the site, but he did say, "This is not a new Harry Potter book."
Gizmodo.com says an anonymous tipster has spilled the beans behind Pottermore. "The anonymous internet guy claims that Pottermore project is a ‘Harry Potter branded smartphone as well as a portal for additional content for smartphones. I won't tell you the phone partner, but it's not one of the big players (well, at least not anymore).'"
My two cents, which no one cares to hear, is that a smartphone launch would be lame. After creating an entire Wizard World I think she could do better.
Regardless of what the announcement is it's clear that Harry Potter is a cash cow. So, what would you do to continue or spin-off the series to keep the dough rolling in? Our ksl.com intern Dave Newlin suggested a book series held a thousand years in the future where magic and technology need to co-exist. Not bad, Dave. Tell us your ideas on Facebook and let's see if we can outdo themed smartphones.
E-mail: jclyde@ksl.com
