Virgin chief Richard Branson on Tuesday unveiled his new magazine, built especially for the iPad.

Project Magazine is now available in the iTunes Store. The reader app is free, but access to debut issue will cost $2.99. It is described as "a revolutionary multimedia magazine built specially for your iPad – packed with international culture, entertainment, design, business and travel."

The first issue includes an interview with actor Jeff Bridges, a profile of Jaguar's 205 mph hypercar, and a 3D video tour of Tokyo, among other things. The app will update with more content throughout the month. The magazine's blog, Projectmag.com, is available on the Web, but most of the publication's content will be limited to the iPad. It is currently not available for other tablets or the iPhone, but Virgin said it will expand availability soon.

Much of the coverage surrounding the launch of Project has focused on the fact that Branson beat News Corp. head Rupert Murdoch in launching an iPad-only publication. Last week, there were rumors that Murdoch was teaming up with Apple CEO Steve Jobs to launch a new digital-only newspaper. Dubbed, "The Daily," the iPad project will allegedly push content right to a user's device seven days a week for $0.99 per week, or roughly $4.25 monthly.

The Project app requires iOS 4.2 or higher.