News Corp has announced its plans for the first digital-only newspaper created specifically for the Apple iPad.
News Corp Chairman Rupert Murdoch will officially announce the project with help from Apple Vice President of Internet Services Eddy Cue at a press conference on February 2nd at New York’s Solomon Guggenheim Museum.
The launch of The Daily marks a new frontier for News Corps and “traditional” newspapers in general venturing in the paid content market.
Major newspapers like The New York Times and Washington Post have announced similar plans to switch from free online content jodel to a paid subscription model. Unilke The Daily, these papers will be available across platforms – from smartphone, to tablet, to PC.
The announcement shows News Corps is willing to bank on the far spread adoption of tablets and in particular, further adoption of the iPad. With news of the iPad 2 on the horizon, News Corp and Apple are hoping for continued sales growth.
The question that remains is whether people are willing to pay for online news content.
Plus, The Daily is an entirely new newspaper without a large following like The New York Times or Wall Street Journal, which makes a paid content model a risky move. The only large name behind the paper is Rupert Murdoch and News Corps itself, thus far.
The app will be available exclusively on the iPad for a cost of 99 cents per week.
The offering will only cost users at max $52 a year whereas a home-delivered subscription to the New York Times costs at least $500 for a whole year of weekly content. The Daily could be Murdoch’s test of the new paid app model, something that he may further implement across his media mecca.
(Via AppleInsider & Reuters )
