Rupert Murdoch ready to go with iPad newspaper The Daily
Rupert Murdoch is on the verge of launching the world's first iPad newspaper, The Daily.
He will launch the publication with Apple chief Steve Jobs on Wednesday at an event the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
There are few details on the News Corp iPad newspaper, including how much a subscription will cost, but the Daily will cover general news, culture and entertainment and will include video
The publication is an attempt by Murdoch to rewrite the business of journalism, as revenue from print circulation and advertising has plunged and growing advertising sales on websites have not made up the difference.
At an investor's conference last month, News Corp chief operating officer Chase Carey called The Daily a "small bet" because costs were limited mainly to a modest editorial staff, reported to be about 150.
Carey touted the benefits of tablet computer technology.
"We didn't want it for a PC," he said. "We think the tablet, you know, is a unique experience. You can design something that takes advantage of that experience, takes advantage of the multimedia capabilities of it, the technological capabilities of it. I think it could be an interesting product."
News Corp has tried for years to build margins on web journalism.
The Times and Sunday Times went behind a paywall in July, requiring at least a £1 payment to access content beyond the front page. While online visitors have plummeted, Carey has been upbeat about the financial prospects of the new model, though he acknowledged the businesses will take years to build. The News of the World also now requires payment from visitors to its website.
The Wall Street Journal's website has required a paid subscription for 14 years and now has nearly 450,000 subscribers. The newspaper charges $3.99 per week for an iPad subscription, which includes access to its website. News Corp will not say how many people are paying, but more than 1 million have downloaded the app for free, a version which contains some preview material, but full access is restricted.
News Corp's MySpace entertainment site, which is free to users, has lost hundreds of millions of dollars annually and moved this week to slash half of its staff, about 500 workers.
Newspaper publishers view the iPad and other tablets as a golden opportunity because they can sell ads and subscriptions at higher prices than they have been able to get on websites, though rates are still lower than for print.
Apple is the clear leader of the tablet makers, selling an estimated 13 million iPads since its launch in April, but the likes of Motorola, Toshiba and Dell showed off their tablets last week at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Technology research firm Gartner expects that 55 million tablet computers to hit shops this year.
