Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp and Apple unveiled The Daily this morning. They’re calling this the first publication with daily, original content created just for the iPad. Basically, the first tablet newspaper.
Putting aside (for a moment) that this comes from the same company that brings you Fox News, this looks like it could be very big. The app is free to download, and the content is 99 cents per week, or $40 per year. They’ll publish “up to 100 pages” of original content every day, all exclusively on the iPad. Murdoch said they’ll be bringing The Daily to other tablets in the future, but “last year, this year, and next year will belong to the iPad.”
The pricing model is going to have the executives at all the other publications who have tried to put their content on the iPad rethinking things in a hurry. Magazines like Popular Science, Wired, and The New Yorker have been offering gargantuan downloads of fancified PDFs, typically for $4 or more per issue. This is the same content you can get in print, for more than you’d pay for print. The Daily sounds like it’s the first shot at a real, editorially driven daily “paper” with a reasonable price point, that was created to really take advantage of the potential of a device like the iPad.
Of course, it’s a shame this has to come from a dickhead like Rupert Murdoch. In response to a question about The Daily’s political tone, one of the people introducing the app said, “We wanted a new brand. We’re patriotic, we love America. We believe in free speech. As for specific editorials, well read it. You’ll be surprised.”
Which tells us absolutely nothing.
This is going to be interesting.*
You can theoretically re-watch the announcement here, but it’s not working for me right now. Engadget live blogged it, too. You can download the app from the App Store now.
* I left my iPad at home today, because I’m an idiot, so I’ll have to let you know how the app actually looks and works once I get my hands on it.
Murdoch? Fuck ’em. I’ll never buy this.
@1 I second that.
Also, what’s the big deal? Every news organization has an online presence. Why is this different- except that its just one more that comes with a subscription price?
I e-mailed Apple and told them I won’t be buying any Apple products as long as they promote that rat Murdoch!
I was really considering getting a new Mac Book Pro…
Sorry Apple, you blew it.
@2 – This isn’t an online presence, it’s a paper built specifically and exclusively for tablets (initially the iPad). Sure, it’s superficially similar to going to a publication’s website on a tablet’s browser, but anyone who’s used an iPad will tell you that apps are different. The subscription price is low enough that people will pay it. It’s the same thinking that has made iTunes and the App Store so successful. This particular publication might not be your thing (or mine) because of Murdoch, but it’s not going to be the only one of its kind for long.
@3, 4 – I’m no fan of Murdoch, but doesn’t Apple constantly get dinged for restricting what is available on their platforms? If you don’t like Murdoch, don’t buy his app, but if you think platforms like Apple’s should be open to all content, that includes stuff you don’t like.
@Anthony, I don’t think you understand how retarded your average iUser is. They are so trained to consume, so terribly brainwashed and conformist that THEY ARE COMPELLED to buy this. They HAVE to.
It’s a sickness, a cancer caused by the virulent PR dept of apple.
iConformity is rampant.
@6 Murdoch spreads his hate and lies already. I don’t buy cable partly do to this garbage he spreads that is leading to a disaster in our government and violence in our society. There must be a limit to what we can stand. He may be free to spread his right wing lies but I’m free to say enough!
The concept sounds great. And if I liked it, the price seems completely reasonable (where $4 an issue sounded crazy).
But I will not be an early adapter of this. They will have to go a lot farther than they have so far to convince me it isn’t stained by Murdoch’s touch. Murdoch is a weasel, and I don’t trust him. In all likelihood, this will probably end up being a lot like Faux News on an iPad. No thanks.
Please let me know what you think of the political tone of the content. I’d love to be proved wrong.
“Apple’s should be open to all content”
Exactly, so why isn’t it? Try to get a Wifi app.
And since its not available on a standard web browser and not available for any other mobile platform other than the iPad, nope, dont think I care at all for this.
Oh good. The world really needed another shitty, no-editorial-standards, conservative-poisoned “news”paper called The Daily.
I think I’ll stick with the free one from the UW, though.
I’m not saying it won’t be successful, hell it probably will, but I hate the idea of paying for content that I am limited to using on one device. Especially when that device might not be the ideal medium for the content. The whole notion of apps for content that should just be on the web annoys the hell out of me. Don’t give me an app, give me a well designed mobile website.
Plus I just don’t get tablets. I’ve used a couple and didn’t really the see the point. I’ve been using tablet PCs for about a decade now and like them, but they have a keyboard. Remove that and eh, its just a large unwieldy phone.
I’m waiting for a solid convertible touch screen.
It’s a given that Murdoch uses his media holdings to push his own political views. It looks like the Daily might employ a softer sell.
I downloaded it and played around with it for a bit. I agree with most of what Gruber said about its execution and usability.
http://daringfireball.net/linked/2011/02…
Meh.
No 3D so it’s boring for the new alpha 3D iPad.
Wake me when America’s Top Model does an iPad app … we were planning for an ATM parody for RuPaul’s show today and that’s what will sell on the iPad.
By the way, internal figures show that the non-Apple tablet numbers are in fact fake – prebooked numbers of units not even shipped to stores and not even sold, whereas the iPad numbers are actually sales figures. All your future is belong to Apple.
I’ve been playing around with it a bit. The content download takes forever, and I’m not clear on just how many additional MB of remaining memory its chomping through. Its pretty cool the way it uses the CoverFlow concept for quick browsing.
First look: ‘The Daily’ for iPad promise…
Murdoch knows that iPad users are a natural market for his product. He didn’t get rich by being stupid, iPad users maybe, but not Murdoch.
How many online publications have tried and given up on the subscription model? Apple might be able to generate a few sales to fanboys but $40 dollars a year for useless information that everyone else is giving away?
Yes, just like that right-wing fascist rag The Times.
For the rest of you people – Christ, grow up already. Apple didn’t come to where it is on the backs of fanboys. Get fucking real and get over your irrational little internet whine.
So when will we see The Stranger app for all platforms? If it were available on the web as well my phone, tablet, and TV I’d pay $1/wk.