So Rupert Murdoch is about to revolutionize newspaper production. With the help of Apple, he is releasing an iNewspaper in the United States called the Daily designed exclusively for tablet style computers . As such, there will be no "web edition" or "print edition". It will cost 90 cents a week.
John Koblin at Women's Wear Daily says that Murdoch sees the iPad as a game changer. He writes: "Murdoch had done his homework, so he already knew that readers spend more time fully immersed with the iPad than they do with the Web. He believes that within a few years, tablet devices will be like cell phones or laptops – consumers will go into Wal-Mart and buy the things at reasonably cheap prices (far more diminished than the $499 for an iPad now). In his mind, in the not-too-distant future, every member of the family will have one."
Maybe, but this could produce some unexpected results. Tom Foremski at ZDnet raises a few other troubling questions. First there is the issue of Apple throwing its weight behind News Corporation. As Foremski says, Apple should not get into the business of content creation, particularly with its strict publication rules, and should make its technology available to all publishers.
The other problem lies with the iPad system. How will that work with advertising? On a closed system like an iPad, advertisers can't target consumers across a range of platforms. Also, no web version of the Daily means that the news will only be available to iPad users. Google News and other news aggregators won't be able to list "Daily" news headlines and send traffic. That means the content might be second rate, and certainly not providing a complete overview.
Murdoch is creating a revolution. But revolutions have a tendency to produce unexpected outcomes.
no comment untill now