Just minutes before the presentation, here are all the details of Murdoch’s The Daily iPad newspaper, sent by Rupert himself. $US40 a year will get you a subscription to 365 days of these contents:
• Over 100 pages of original news, life, entertainment, opinion and sports –
• every single day of the year
• Original video content
• A selection of articles read aloud
• 360 degree photos you can explore by swiping
• Immersive photography
• Interactive charts, infographics and clickable ‘hot spots’
• The option to save articles to read later
• Web-friendly versions of articles you can share via Twitter, Facebook and email
• In-app comments – including audio comments
• Your local weather
• Your favourite sports teams’ scores, news and feeds
• Crossword and Sudoku puzzles
Murdoch sent this document along with an email to his friends in the UK publishing industry:
Of course, he seems really adamant about his project. His letter is full of Cupertinian hyperbole: “this pioneering digital venture, fully championed by Steve Jobs and the rest of his team at Apple, establishes an entirely new category of delivery and consumption”. An entire new category. It must be really magical. This fair and balanced quote, however, makes me think The Daily may be just another glorified reader with lots of video thrown in: “I’m convinced that what they’ve created is the most immersive and unique experience available – one that will resonate with our audiences everywhere and change the way news is viewed.”
We will see about that when we get our hands over it soon.
Update: The presentation has finished. So far, it looks like a pretty, well-produced news application mixed with some widgets, but hardly a “change in the way news is viewed”. However, pushing 100 pages of this news magazine every day will be an impressive feat. We are trying The Daily now and we will post a video review today.
Update 2: You can get The Daily here, but it’s only available in the US for now.