Categories: MacMobilityWorkspace

Daily iPad Newspaper Slated For February Launch

An invitation sent out to the media has revealed the iPad-only newspaper, the Daily, created by News Corp will begin on 2 February.

That digital publication will cost 99 (62 pence) cents per week.

According to Reuters, the original 19 January unveiling date was scrubbed “because of technical glitches.” News Corp CEO Rupert Murdoch and Apple Vice President of Internet Services Eddy Cue will headline the new launch event, scheduled to take place in New York City.

The Daily is not exactly a top-secret project. In a 9 November interview with The Australian Financial Review, Murdoch revealed details of the publication: “It will only be seen on tablets. It will only employ journalists – and maybe eight to 10 technicians.”

Tablet Newspaper

Murdoch also suggested the Daily will need a circulation of 800,000 readers to become economically viable – an achievable number, he thought, given the proliferation of iPads among consumers and businesses. “By the end of the next year there will be 30-40 million iPads,” he said. “I believe every single person will eventually have one, even children.”

E-reader and tablet makers have worked to make periodicals a vital part of their ecosystem. Barnes & Noble markets its Android-powered Nook Color as an ideal way to read image-intensive magazines such as Rolling Stone, and Amazon.com boasts relationships with newspapers such as The New York Times. Unlike e-books and their single purchase price, periodicals offer the thoroughly enticing prospect of recurring revenue, as subscribers sign up and then become too lazy to cancel.

Joking aside, iPad users are apparently turning to their devices as a channel for daily news, according to a recent survey by the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute at the University of Missouri.

News Source

Around 84.4 percent of the survey’s 1,600 participants said they used their iPad to follow breaking news and current events, a shade behind the 89.2 percent who said they relied on their PC for the same purpose. Some 70 percent said they used their iPhone as a news source.

“These findings are encouraging for newspaper publishers who plan to begin charging for subscriptions on their iPad app editions early next year,” Roger Fidler, the Institute’s program director for digital public and research project leader, wrote in a 9 December statement, “but our survey also found a potential downside: iPad news apps may diminish newspaper print subscriptions in 2011.”

Should the Daily prove successful, it could open the door to other publications attempting their own iPad-only model.

Nicholas Kolakowski eWEEK USA 2013. Ziff Davis Enterprise Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Recent Posts

Google To Pay $340m To Settle Tax Probe In Italy

Ouch. Italian prosecutors to drop tax case against Google, after tech giant agreed to pay…

2 hours ago

UK Rejects Chinese Plea Over Divest Order For Scottish Chip Firm

High Court in the UK rules that Chinese owner must sell stake in Scottish chip…

4 hours ago

Amazon Workers In North Carolina Reject Unionisation

Workers at Amazon warehouse near Raleigh vote against joining union, as company continues to challenge…

1 day ago

China President Xi Meets With Top Tech Leaders

High-profile meeting with tech leaders seen as signal China is boosting tech sector after years…

1 day ago

South Korea To Buy 10,000 GPUs For National AI Hub

South Korea hopes to gain leg up in international AI race with infusion of private…

1 day ago

BYD, Geely, Great Wall Add DeepSeek AI To EVs

Chinese electric vehicle giants rush to incorporate DeepSeek AI tech to cars after it creates…

1 day ago