Media experts see a sad future for newsagents. A future with no news. In a world of instant online news, RSS feeds and smartphone news apps, the newspaper as we know it is simply on its last legs and with the advent of E-newspapers, the good old paper tabloid gets another nail in its coffin.
Murdoch's Media empire 'News Corporation' is launching a dedicated newspaper for Apple’s iPad.
Called The Daily, the operation will be based in Manhattan and will employe around 100 staff. It is set to launch early next year.
It’s the first new product for the iPad from a major publisher. Reports suggest the price will be 99c a week, or $50 a year.
But is there enough of a market yet? Apple has sold 7.5 million iPads since launch. But Rupert and his chums are obviously thinking ahead. iSuppli estimates that in two years, there’ll be a hundred million iPads around and that's one Hell of a market. Plus that figure doesn't take into account any new versions, (possibly cheaper or smaller versions) which Apple may push out.
Analysts predict that The Daily would require over two million subscribers worth $50 a year to cover costs (and that’s before Apple takes its cut.) The average newspaper falls way short of this figure but it is possible. Newsweek and Time snag over three million paying punters a week, the New Yorker around one million and The Smithsonian magazine around two million customers.
But enough of the numbers. You don't grow a media empire like News Corporation without knowing what you're doing. I think we'll be seeing a tonne more E-literature in the next few years from E-books, to magazines, to iPad papers like this one.
At least the trees get a break.
Source: The register