All Things D is reporting that according to their sources, News Corp.’s iPad only news publication dubbed “The Daily” is set to launch January 17.
Given that News Corp. has hired dozens of blabby journalists for the Daily, and interviewed many more, lots of other details about the app/service have leaked out already: It will come out daily, it will sell for 99 cents a week, it will use lots of video and it will have cool multimedia bells and whistles, including some kind of 3-D effect that lots of people are very excited about. And Apple CEO Steve Jobs may or may not participate in a launch event.
Most important for other media companies: The Daily is supposed to use a new “push” subscription feature from Apple, where iTunes automatically bills customers on a weekly or monthly basis, and a new edition shows up on customers’ iPads every morning.
If we do see that on the Daily next month, expect to see several other new iPad apps using the same feature shortly afterward.
If I recall correctly – a lot of publications are awaiting for this new push subscription feature from Apple. Both the New York Times and the Washington Post have free iPad apps that will move to a subscription model in the first quarter of this year.
The Wall Street Journal already is using a delivery method very similar. My itunes account is billed monthly automatically and each day’s edition is waiting for me in the morning. I do have to tap it and wait about a minute for it to download but it is there. It also updates every afternoon with a late edition.