Tentative name: “The Daily”
Publisher: News Corporation.
Headquarters: New York, USA.
Digital platforms: Apple iPad and Google Android based tablets.
Target: general readership, offering short, snappy stories that could be digested quickly.
Main print competitors: USA Today and The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal national editions.
Launching date: before Christmas.
Budget: $30 million.
Tentative subscription cost: $1 per week (The Wall Street Journal on iPad is available for a $4 weekly subscription fee).
Staff: 150 editors, journalists, IT experts and managers.
First big guns: The New Yorker music critic Sasha Frere-Jones hired as culture editor; Richard Johnson (gossip) and Jesse Angelo (crime) come from The New York Post; Mike Nizza from AOL, The Atlantic and The New York Times.
Business manager: Greg Clayman, former head of Viacom’s digital division,
Key-factors for success: original content.
Why a tablet? Because is the iPad is “a game-changer,”
Why Rupert Murdoch is so much involved in the project?: Because he believes that The Daily, properly executed, will demonstrate that consumers are willing to pay for high quality, original content specifically designed for a burgeoning category of high-end digital readers.
Mobile first: As Murdoch said, “Mobile technology will transform the print business. We’re going to see, around the world, hundreds and hundreds of millions of these devices – we’ve got to develop our methods of presentation of news.”
In summary:Murdoch’s number 1 and most exciting project right now.
More at our Harvard Tablets Summit.
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Tags: News Corporation, Rupert Murdoch, USA national iPad newspaper, iPad