We’ve been locked into The Daily live launch this evening, getting an eyeful of Murdoch’s latest venture, The Daily. Click through for our screenshots, plus images from the webcast, and all your questions about The Daily answered.
UPDATE: More screenshots and images just added!
How much is The Daily?
The Daily costs $4.25 per month, 99c per week, or 14c per issue, for 100 iPad pages per day. There’s no new delivery mechanism, you’re just billed automatically, weekly or yearly.
Is it available online?
The Daily also has a website, and a Tumblr. Content is mirrored on the web, but because of touch gestures not everything you can do on the iPad can be replicated on the web. But text and image content will have HTML mirrors on The Daily website.
Will it be available in the UK?
It isn’t available in the UK at launch unless you’ve got a sneaky American iTunes account. If it’s a success, Murdoch will be itching to get a UK version of The Daily set up over here, probably as his second port of call.
How and when will it be updated, and can I look at back content if I’m a subscriber?
This is not a once a day static product – we can drop in a new front page any time we want, we can add a new page any time we want, but we’re not going to be updating every five minutes.” Saved articles is the best way to find previously published content. Archives will be on the Web. Working toward archiving and internal search but it’s not there at launch.
Will other magazines use the tech that pushes The Daily to my iPad?
Apple said “You’ll hear an announcement from us very soon about other news publications,” although there’s no specifics yet. It sounds like an appealing proposition though, Murdoch stated that it costs less than half a million dollars a week, without advertising or subscribers, which is amazingly cheap.
What will the content and tone be like?
Editor in Chief Jessie Erzo said: “We want a new voice. We are patriotic, we love America, and we are going to say what we think is right for this country,” although he didn’t specify a political stance. When asked about the sort of news journalism The Daily would be publishing, he said: “Like any news organisation we’re going to break stories. How much long term investigative journalism? Read it and you’ll find out.” The target market, Murdoch said, is “everybody” – make that everybody with an iPad. There’s an apps and games section that goes straight through to the app store.
The Daily can carry 360-degree photographs, and images that respond to your touch. There’s a video anchor, professional audio voiceovers, shuffle features, and a carousel format to the stories. You can share articles on Facebook and Twitter, and content links out to the wider web too.
Most importantly: Does Steve Jobs like it?
Murdoch said that he’d received a call from Steve Jobs, and said “He believed that the app was really terrific, he was extremely flattering”, although didn’t go into much detail.
Do you want The Daily in the UK? Shout out in the comments!
