Apple and News Corp are reportedly set to launch The Daily, the first iPad-only news publication. Can Rupert Murdoch and Steve Jobs usher journalism into a new digital age?

The joint "newspaper" will have no website and no print edition; the only way to get it will be to download The Daily via iPad application. Each new edition will cost $0.99 to download. According to Women's Wear Daily, the publication will have, "a tabloid sensibility with a broadsheet intelligence."

It's Apple's involvement that makes this project interesting, though. The tech giant has reportedly been offering its engineering talent to help create a seamless delivery experience for the publication, which should launch sometime in early 2011. For his part, News Corp CEO Rupert Murdoch has hired approximately 100 journalists to run the publication. They are preparing for the publication's launch next year and are thought to be led by Jesse Angelo, the former managing editor of The New York Post (also a News Corp publication).

Our bet is that you will see Rupert Murdoch and/or Jesse Angelo on stage with Steve Jobs at the launch of the next iPad early next year. But will it be a pivotal moment in journalism history?

Murdoch Gets It







According to reports, Murdoch has believed that the iPad will be a "game changer" ever since he read studies that demonstrated people were more engaged with content on their tablet devices than either traditional newspaper or the web. He calculates that if he can just get a fraction of the eventual iPad market (one estimate: 5% of 40 million iPad owners by the end of 2011), then his digital publication will succeed. It's a big and risky bet that could either fall flat on its face or cement Murdoch's legacy as a visionary and kingpin of news.

Murdoch's financial commitment to The Daily makes it a project nobody can write off. With Angelo at the helm, the publication is going to have a fast-paced but fun feel. The publication will not just be a newspaper formatted for the tablet, though; it will incorporate a great deal of video content and utilize the iPad's technology in ways that no newspaper or website currently accomplishes.

Will people pay $0.99 for news that they can get for free on the web? I actually think so, especially if The Daily can deliver a top-notch video experience. Apple's done a great job of making it easy to make in-app purchases, and all indicators suggest that it'll be even easier to make these payments for subscriptions like Murdoch's iPad-only newspaper.

While I may not like some of Murdoch's ideas, (see Murdoch: Take Your Google Ball and Go Home), I give credit where it's due. Murdoch's commitment to a digital future for journalism is commendable and forward-thinking. He realizes more than his competitors that the future of news isn't in propping up print publications, but creating truly immersive digital experiences. He may very well be creating the template that brings other newspapers into a profitable digital age.

Let's be clear, though: while The Daily could take off and become the must-have publication on the iPad, it will never be the only player on the block. People won't stop reading blogs or newspaper websites in favor of the iPad. Instead, they'll add The Daily to their many sources of news. Some days, they'll make the $0.99 purchase, and on others they'll be reading through the archives of Mashable or Perez Hilton.

2011 is going to be another interesting year for the rapidly changing world of journalism.