News Corp iPad daily rumored for mid-January

News Corp may have narrowed down the launch of its daily iPad publication until mid-January, insiders leaked on Friday. Still thought to have been postponed from this month, The Daily would go live the week of January 17. Tips to AllThingsD also mentioned a purported 3D effect that early access testers were "very excited about."

Many of the details are already virtually known, including in part through confirmations from Rupert Murdoch's son. The app may initially be iPad-only and would cost 99 cents per week, with multiple updates per day. It will have its own editorial staff running into the dozens, including the former head of the New York Post.

It's still unknown whether or not Apple CEO Steve Jobs would jointly introduce the publication, but News Corp may be waiting primarily on updates to iTunes and possibly the iPad software itself. Among these would be iTunes subscriptions and background downloads that would automatically bill a customer through iTunes and deliver new issues without having to open up the relevant app. The software side might be a prelude to the next iPad in April.

Murdoch is commonly known to be placing a large amount of faith in The Daily turning back the clock for the news industry by moving customers back to a more print-like, paid approach instead of the ad-supported web model that has dominated so far. While he has been criticized for failing to understand the web and deliberately cutting back readership to focus on paid customers, he has had mild success with the iPad edition of the Wall Street Journal and similar results after putting up "paywalls" on sites like the Times of London.

By Electronista Staff

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industry, digital imaging, News Corp, Apple, iPad, iPad apps, The Daily