News Corp.'s Murdoch Unwraps Daily Digital Publication for Apple's IPad
Rupert Murdoch, chairman and chief executive officer of News Corp.Photographer: Brendan Hoffman/Bloomberg
News Corp.’s Rupert Murdoch introduced a news publication tailored specifically for Apple Inc.’s iPad, a bid to expand his media empire with a new business model for delivering content digitally.
Called the Daily, the publication will cost 14 cents a day, Murdoch said at a news conference in New York. It will include high-definition video and 360-degree photos.
Murdoch, News Corp.’s chairman and chief executive officer, is betting the popularity of Apple’s iPad will draw subscribers to the digital publication being run by Jesse Angelo, the former managing editor of the News Corp.-owned New York Post. The Daily will feature general news, sports, arts and opinion sections.
“The iPad demands that we completely reimagine our craft,” Murdoch said at the event. “I’m convinced that in the tablet era there’s room for a fresh and robust new voice.”
News Corp. is confronting the dual challenges facing the media industry: shrinking print advertising revenue and the reluctance of Internet users to pay for content. U.S. newspaper revenue tumbled 29 percent in 2009, the most recent year with data available, according to Newspaper Association of America. That marked the fourth straight drop.
Murdoch chose to develop the Daily after Apple demonstrated there’s a market for tablet computers, which blend the functionality of a touch-screen smartphone with a notebook computer. To take advantage of the device’s capabilities, the Daily will include print stories, along with multimedia audio and video content.
No Print Version
Murdoch was joined at the event by Angelo and Eddy Cue, Apple’s vice president of Internet services. Apple Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs is on medical leave.
“We have license to experiment, the ability to innovate,” said Murdoch. “We believe the Daily will be the model for how stories are told and consumed.”
While Apple dominates the tablet market, competition is increasing. Samsung Electronics Co. and Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. are making rival devices running on Google Inc.’s Android operating system. Global tablet sales may total 54.8 million units in 2011 and 208 million in 2014, according to Gartner Inc. Apple said last month that it’s sold 14.8 million iPads since its release in April.
Murdoch isn’t the first publishing magnate to bet on the iPad. British billionaire Richard Branson unveiled a magazine designed for the device in November. His monthly publication, called “Project,” covers entertainment, design, technology and entrepreneurs. It costs $2.99 a month in Apple’s app store.
Pay to Read
Publishers are trying to solidify revenue streams online after years of giving away material for free and trying to pair it with new advertising. New York Times Co., Philadelphia Media Network and Gannett Co. are among the media companies looking to charge for online content. News Corp.’s Wall Street Journal was one of the first sites to do so.
Apple has been trying to craft a subscription model for publishers such as Time Warner Inc., Conde Nast and Hearst Corp., letting them sell versions of their publications for the iPad. Sticking points during the talks have been who controls data about users and the terms of a subscription, people familiar with the negotiations said last year. They declined to be identified because the talks are private.
1 comment:
You may be correct and this product may be more graphically appealing, but the article is very misleading in presenting news.me as an original concept when there are not just one but two other news services based on practically an identical concept
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