The launch of The Daily, News Corp.'s iPad-only newspaper, has been delayed. It was supposed to happen next Wednesday but has been postponed while Apple and News Corp. iron out kinks in the subscription platform, The Wall Street Journal has said.
A weekly subscription to The Daily will cost $0.99. WSJ said Apple is developing a system that would deliver new issues to a subscriber's iPad automatically once he or she signs up for the service via iTunes.
"The app and the service work; its just getting them to talk to each other that needs more time," a source "familiar with the matter" told WSJ.
News Corp. confirmed the delay to the Journal but declined to disclose further details.
Apple head Steve Jobs and News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch were expected take the stage together at an event at the Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco to unveil The Daily on Jan. 19. However, the Journal said that the launch might not happen for "months."
It's not the first time the publication has been delayed. It was previously expected to debut in December. Despite the holdup, News. Corp isn't exactly twiddling its thumbs. The media company already has a staff of 100 working to churn out dummy issues to an exclusive audience of 1,000 readers.
If News Corp. works out the subscription service for The Daily, it could be an important step for the iPad, which has yet to deliver on its promise as a viable alterntive to newspapers and magazines. While most major publications produce an iPad app, only a few have any kind of subscription available. The Economist offers a yearly subscription for $110 and Newsweek peddles issues bundled in 12- or 24-week packages. But for the most part, digital iterations of the glossies have to be purchased one issue at a time.
Many magazines on the iPad have declined in popularity. A lot of them, like Wired or Men's Health saw promising launches followed by steep declines in sales. There are a number of other hurdles facing iPad magazines, but the foremost is the lack of a subscription model .
But The Daily is a different story because it has no basis in print. It also represents a new approach for News. Corp, which traditionally buys an existing publication and restructures. This time Rupert Murdoch's company is starting from scratch. Murdoch has nabbed seasoned reporters from publications like Forbes and the New Yorker to create a product that covers a broad base of topics including news, arts, sports, entertainment, and opinions. It's also said to include a lot of the bells and whistles like audio and video now associated with iPad publications, in addition to some 3D features. But it could be a while before readers actually know what that will look like.
Neither Apple or News Corp. immediately responded to a request for comment.