At today’s live announcement of The Daily, we finally got some good, hard facts about the new app. It’s set to launch noon today.
Murdoch began the announcement by speaking about how The Daily will be a massive re-imagining of the news for a tablet, combining the best of traditional reporting curated by an editor with the immediacy of the internet and for just $0.14 a day.
Just prior to launch, many of the details of the Daily were leaked, sourced at $40 a year:
• 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, info-graphics 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 favorite sports teams’ scores, news and feeds
• Crossword and Sudoku puzzles
Murdoch said the target of this app are the more than 15 millions of users expected to buy tablets over the next year — so not just the iPad?
More after the break:
Video, high definition images, panoramas, and wit will all be a big part of the experience.
Showing off the launch issue, The Daily is touted to be media that is appropriate to each story: text and images, videos, animations, 360 degree photos.
The app will produce up to 100 pages per day (not bad for just $0.14)
Riffing on Mad Men, the main navigation tile system is called Carousel, allowing you to quickly scroll through all the stories. Additionally, there’s an autoplay, shuffle stories, audio versions of lead stories, and a video anchor like one on TV.
Articles can be shared on Facebook, Twitter or email.
Twitter feeds can go directly into the app, so you can see live tweets in the app.
The Daily will have a games and reviews section, which will link directly to the app store.
Sports fans will be able to follow their team’s schedule, scores, tweets, and anything else your sports-obsessed little heart could desire.
The app will cost $0.99 a week, with the first two weeks will be free courtesy of Verizon.
Apple’s Eddy Cue went on stage, extolling the virtues of The Daily, claiming it would “redefine the news.”
The app will be a single download with a $0.99 a week charge, or $39.99 for a year, as per the earlier leak.
So, iOS 4.3 was not announced with The Daily, possible because it’s still buggy enough to be in beta?
For back issues, at launch you will need to save the story using the save function, but at launch old articles will not be searchable or archived.
Apple promised that the new subscription model would come to other publishers “soon.”
$30 million spent so far in developing this app, and it will run at a cost of $500,000 a week — which should be paid off through subscribers and advertisers. At the start the subscribers are expected to make up more of the money coming it, but it’s planned to eventually shift to a 50/50 split.
Eddy Cue dodged a question about in-app purchasing as raised by the recent Sony ereader issue, saying a new announcement would come soon.
Breaking news will come in via feeds, tweets, or a news ticker.
Asked about the editorial tone of The Daily — especially in relation to Newscorp’s generally right wing bias, the answer was “read the editorials!”
Murdoch said that The Daily will be on all major tablets, but that this year and maybe next year will belong to Apple. As the other platforms mature, The Daily will come to them.
Not all of the content will be mirrored on the web, due to the interactive nature of the content. The more standard text and picture articles will be online.
You will not be able to browse directly to the online version, but if you’re sent a link over Twitter or Facebook, you’ll be able to click through.
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