The Guardian reports that Rupert Murdoch and Steve Jobs have been working together to create a new digital “newspaper” for tablet devices such as the iPad. The publication, which will be entitled the Daily, is supposed to be announced later this month.
The 79-year-old Murdoch is said to have had the idea for the project after studying a survey that suggested readers spent more time immersed in their iPads than they did ? comparatively speaking ? on the internet, where unfocused surfing is typical.
Sources say Murdoch is committed to the project in part because he believes that the Daily, properly executed, will demonstrate that consumers are willing to pay for high- quality, original content online.
Murdoch believes the iPad is going to be a “game changer” and he has seen projections that there will be 40 million iPads in circulation by the end of 2011. A source said: “He envisions a world in which every family has a iPad in the home and it becomes the device from which they get their news and information. If only 5% of those 40 million subscribe to the Daily, that’s already two million customers.”
The Guardian reports that a subscription to the app will be $.99 a week.
An iPad in every home… hmm.
But will there be comics? One can only hope.
Does Murdoch read the comics? Every paper out here in Australia run by him has a shrinking generic comics page…be interesting to see where they fit into all this…
Wasn’t it Murdoch who believed that MySpace was going to be a “game changer”?…
i hope i will have my faculties at 79….
I can see this as being a potential platform for comics. If it is anything like the GQ ipad app (and other similar apps) each issue is formated like traditional print publication. I can see them adding a celebrated “comics” section in each addition.
that would really be cool.
Murdoch and Jobs… an unholy alliance if ever I’ve seen one. 😉
I think they will need to have pretty compelling content in order to really make a go of it… oh, and The Daily will need to be cheap.
It’s a fantastic concept, and I have a feeling that with Steve working on it with Rupert, it won’t TOTALLY suck. Then again, that also gives it the chance to be the most ridiculous propaganda newspaper since WWI
Why does that headline give me the heebie-jeebies? Maybe I’m just cold. *shudder*