A new digital paper tests a new model for news
EIGHT years ago Apple launched iTunes, a digital store selling music singles for 99 cents apiece. For record companies ravaged by piracy, it seemed like a good deal. Only later did many come to regret allowing another company to set retail prices and to get between them and their customers. On February 2nd Apple and Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation launched the Daily, an iPad newspaper that will cost 99 cents a week. It will not dominate the digital news market the way iTunes came to rule the digital music market. But it sets a disruptive precedent or two.
The Daily is a mixture of the newfangled and the old-fashioned. It has whizzy graphics, including video and “360-degree” pictures. Sport fans can receive the twitterings of their favourite players. Unlike most websites, though, the Daily is available only in America. It features outmoded things such as editorials and paid reporters. Although it can be updated to take in breaking news, it is primarily a daily, not an hourly. …
