Rupert Murdoch, whose News Corp. owns The Wall Street Journal and New York Daily News, among other publications, has launched the first digital newspaper designed from scratch exclusively for the iPad. It is expected to be the first of many such digital publications, putting a further squeeze on print publications and their higher cost structure.
The subscription is $40 a year, with full-color magazine format and hyperlinks. In short, it offers more than a newspaper — including Sudoku puzzles and crossword puzzles — for less than a print subscription. The challenge will be to provide unique content that is not already available for free on the web. The press release is below:
Introducing The Daily
First National Daily News Publication Created for iPad Launches today in the Apple App Store
Today Rupert Murdoch, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of News Corporation, unveiled The Daily — the industry’s first national daily news publication created from the ground up for iPad.
“New times demand new journalism,” said Mr. Murdoch. “So we built The Daily completely from scratch — on the most innovative device to come about in my time — the iPad.”
“The magic of great newspapers — and great blogs — lies in their serendipity and surprise, and the touch of a good editor,” continued Mr. Murdoch. “We’re going to bring that magic to The Daily — to inform people, to make them think, to help them engage in the great issues of the day. And as we continue to improve and evolve, we are going to use the best in new technology to push the boundaries of reporting.”
The Daily’s unique mix of text, photography, audio, video, information graphics, touch interactivity and real-time data and social feeds provides its editors with the ability to decide not only which stories are most important — but also the best format to deliver these stories to their readers.
“News Corp. is redefining the news experience with The Daily,” says Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We think it is terrific and iPad users are really going to embrace it.”
Led by Editor-in-Chief Jesse Angelo and Publisher Greg Clayman, The Daily is the first application made available on the App Store as a subscription — which will be billed directly to an iTunes account. And because this paperless paper requires no multi-million dollar presses or delivery trucks, it will be priced at just 99 cents a week (or $39.99 for an annual subscription).
“The Daily launches at a moment when advances in technology are changing the job of the modern editor,” says Mr. Angelo. “These advances are giving us new ways to tell stories. We intend to take advantage of all of them, and make The Daily the new voice for a new era.”
Each day The Daily will publish up to 100 pages focused on six key areas: news, sports, gossip and celebrity, opinion, arts and life, and apps and games. It will offer views from across the political spectrum. They will come from across cultures and generations, across America and the world.
The Daily will feature Sudoku and crossword puzzles, localized weather reports, and a customizable sports package that captures news on the user’s favorite teams. Subscribers will also be able to leave comments on Daily stories in either written or audio form — as well as bookmark them in-app to read later.
As readers move through The Daily’s content, they will be helped by several highly intuitive navigation tools. And while The Daily lives on the iPad, most of its articles can be easily shared via Facebook, Twitter and email. The Daily will link out to the web, as well as bring the web into the app.
“In short, says Mr. Murdoch, “we believe The Daily will be the model for how stories are told and consumed in this digital age.”
The Daily has bureaus in New York and Los Angeles, as well as stringers across the country. Full company bios are available at TheDaily.com/about. Executive staff includes:
John Kilpatrick – Executive Creative Director
Steve Alperin – Managing Editor
Mike Nizza – Managing Editor, News
Richard Johnson – LA Bureau Chief
Sasha Frere-Jones – Editor, Arts & Life
Chris D’Amico – Editor, Sports
Elisabeth Eaves – Editor, Opinion
Peter Ha – Editor, Apps, Games and Technology
The Daily is also changing the way advertising is offered and consumed within a news publication. Full-page ad units are completely interactive, customizable, and offer a rich mix of branding and direct response opportunities. Launch advertisers include HBO, Macy’s, Paramount, Pepsi Max, Range Rover, Verizon, and Virgin Atlantic Airways.
“With The Daily, Rupert Murdoch has given us the chance to rethink the entire experience of news delivery and consumption,” said Mr. Clayman. “The ability to actively listen to and engage with our audience means we can continually provide an experience that consumers value in this fast-evolving tablet space. Together with our customers, our advertising partners, and the team at The Daily, we are excited to create a new form of media.”
About The Daily
The Daily is a first-of-its-kind daily national news publication built exclusively as an application for tablet computing. It provides readers the engaging experience of a magazine combined with the immediacy of the web and the need-to-know content of a newspaper, all while elevating user experience beyond the printed word. The Daily is a subscription-based news product, published 365 days a year, at the cost of $0.99 cents a week or $39.99 a year. For more information on The Daily go to: http://www.thedaily.com.
News Corporation (NASDAQ: NWS, NWSA; ASX: NWS, NWSLV) had total assets as of September 30, 2010 of approximately US$56 billion and total annual revenues of approximately US$33 billion. News Corporation is a diversified global media company with operations in six industry segments: cable network programming; filmed entertainment; television; direct broadcast satellite television; publishing; and other. The activities of News Corporation are conducted principally in the United States, Continental Europe, the United Kingdom, Australia, Asia and Latin America.
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Somewhere in publishing pergatory, William Randolph Hearst is smiling.
Does this mean Rupert Murdoch has finally been crowned King of Sodom or Gommorah? Saw him hawking himself on Fox today…of course he says his “content” will be apolitical…thank God for Android and Google, who’s motto is “Do No Evil”…One question: Did Steve Jobs sell his soul for a new liver or what? We’ll just have to wait and see…Oh, and is apps new icon a pitchfork, horns and a forked tail? Just askin;)
Your thoughts are same as mine. If it ever even smells of FOXNEWS it will implode. Users of iPad are not fox demographics. I will wait and watch.
Yep Curtis, FOX news consumers are walking zombies in my book anyway…their zombie kool-aid is just zippier and more portable…
The tech may be good. The presentation may be innovative. If the content is the same FOX propaganda, who cares if it has the pretty wrapping paper.
It seems Murdoch’s app was launched as a pre-emptive strike against the News of the World scandal, (Murdochs), the lawsuit(s) of which are soon to be made public. They can’t very well hack peoples phones, email, voicemail and keep doing the skank things (harrassment, intimidation, retalliation, enemy lists) they’re capable of…and their former editor, Andy Coulson,*resigned from Camerons cabinet in England. Ought to be a helluva show…better than the zombie app by far…
*See pushed out because he became a human and political embarrassment
So far The Daily app has crashed to the desktop twice. Evidently this is not aimed at those of us with aging eyes — the type can’t be resized and is on the smaller size for the “reading glasses set”. I first looked in the opinion section. The story is about the Bollywood and the contention that promotes the emergence of moderate Islam. This is hardly the anti Islamic vitriol that I’m used to seeing from the right-wing. I’ll certainly give it the 2 free weeks, but even it if it good and reasonably politically balanced, I have a problem with sending any money Murdoch’s way.
I have to give credit for a good pricing model. At a time when magazines like Time are charging much, much more for the iPad version than the print version, $.99 seems like a decent price point. Still if it is obviously politically biased or if the quality slips, people won’t pay even that when there is so much good, free content available.
OMG…the anti-mubarak protestors have morphed from computer geeks to badass warriors…they have MADE shields and lit fires with the pro-mubarak molotov cocktails and beaten them back. It’s surreal…its like Spartacus: Blood and Sand man…the pro-mubarack protestors aslo set fire to their own museum!(oops) The computer geek badasses have conquered the square!
News Corp needs to be broken up along with the other 5 or 6 media conglomerates.
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0403-25.htm