Murdoch launches Daily magazine for iPad

Faced with declining paper revenues and stiff competition from free online alternatives, Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation made a bold foray into online publishing last Wednesday with the release of their subscription-based iPad-only publication The Daily. The Daily is one of a handful of publications that exists solely as an app, a big gamble from a corporation that has until now been relatively wary of online media.

The subscription model on which the magazine is based on is very similar to print models: users can choose to pay $40/year or $0.99/day for continued updates to material, with a promise of up to 100 pages of fresh content every day.

The advantage of the iPad-only nature of the magazine lies in the fact that it has been designed to seamlessly interact with HD quality videos, photo galleries and popular social networks. Unike many other news publications with supporting iPad apps, the content doesn’t mirror material on a more traditional website, but caters specifically to iPad users.

The move is likely to be watched closely by other media houses as print revenues dry up. Murdoch has played up the financial viability of the move, stating that the monthly investment on the app is a relatively low $2 million/month. If it does succeed, it will probably be yet another nail in the coffin for print publications, with the extremely low distribution costs a highly attractive proposition for beleaguered news agencies.

Regardless of financial viability, first reactions from critics have been decidely lukewarm. John Gapper, writing for the Financial Times, describes the app as lacking “not impressive newfangled technology but enough news stories.” With embedded video adverts another gripe for some reviewers, it’s clear that the design team has some work to do before they get the media/content balance perfected.

Despite the teething problems, Murdoch has made clear his intention to drag the print industry into the 21st century. Whether he’s got enough quality journalism to back the effort remains to be seen.