AOL to release weekly iPad magazine ‘Huffington’
A new weekly iPad magazine, produced as an app, will soon be released, according to Forbes. The digital magazine called Huffington will come from Huffington Post Media Group and will be overseen by Tim O’Brien, Huffington Post’s executive editor.
As Forbes reports, “Huffington will be published weekly and will reflect the Huffington Post’s mix of original journalism and aggregated news, possibly with a small number of stories commissioned specifically for the magazine.”
It will be designed as an app, and there are reports it will be offered free at first with a paid version in the works. No timetable has yet been set for a launch.
Arianna Huffington is betting on the success of iPad-only digital products, much like News Corp did with The Daily. Since its launch in early 2011, The Daily claims to be one of Apple’s top-grossing iPad apps in the world.
Forbes points out AOL already has a tablet-based magazine-like news product called Editions – it’s a news reader that gets content from a user’s social network.
Huffington was also in the news recently last week: Huffington Post Media Group is preparing to launch a live over-the-internet video channel modeled on the 24-hour cable news networks.
Apple officially rolls out App Store subscription service for publishers
By Chris Hogg
Apple confirmed Tuesday a new subscription service is now available to all publishers who have content-based apps on the App Store. The subscription service will allow newspapers, magazines, video and music publishers to charge a recurring fee.
The subscription model was first announced when Apple and News Corp. announced the iPad-only publication called The Daily. Then, Eddy Cue, vice president of Internet Services for Apple, said the subscription service was being launched with The Daily but other publishers would be able to use the feature eventually. Today, Apple confirmed the availability of the subscription service for all publishers. Apple said the service will use the same App Store billing system used for in-app purchases and publishers will be able to set the price and length of subscription.
Subscriptions can be offered on a weekly, monthly, bi-monthly, quarterly, bi-yearly or yearly basis. When users download an app using the new subscription service, they will be prompted to pick the length of subscription and are billed accordingly. Subscriptions can be reviewed an managed from an account page, including the ability to cancel a subscription that is set to auto-renew.
As for revenue-split, Apple says it will process all payments and keep a 30 percent share of revenue, which is the same percentage the company takes for other in-app purchases.
“Our philosophy is simple,” said Apple CEO Steve Jobs in a news release. “When Apple brings a new subscriber to the app, Apple earns a 30 percent share; when the publisher brings an existing or new subscriber to the app, the publisher keeps 100 percent and Apple earns nothing. All we require is that, if a publisher is making a subscription offer outside of the app, the same (or better) offer be made inside the app, so that customers can easily subscribe with one-click right in the app.”
Apple says publishers can offer subscriptions via their website and choose their own pricing and because Apple does not manage these transactions, the company will not take a revenue share and no customer information is shared with Apple. In this case, Apple says a publisher will need to authenticate a user using their own process.
However, Apple’s publisher guidelines say a publisher who sells a digital subscription outside of an app will have to offer the same subscription at the same price or less within apps. Apple’s terms also say a publisher cannot include links within an app to encourage users to purchase subscriptions outside of the app.
“We believe that this innovative subscription service will provide publishers with a brand new opportunity to expand digital access to their content onto the iPad, iPod touch and iPhone, delighting both new and existing subscribers,” Jobs said.
While Apple’s launch of a subscription model is being widely discussed in media circles for its potential to generate a new revenue stream, it remains to be seen if readers are willing to fork over cash to access content in apps when a lot of content is available freely on the Internet.
“[This year] is the year of media subscriptions,” said Larry Dignan with ZDNet. “The rub is we don’t know whether consumers will go along for the ride. It’s quite possible that 2011 will merely be the year of trying to do media subscriptions.”
Apple says customer privacy will be protected and users will be prompted with an option to share their name, email and zip code with a publisher when they subscribe. When a user shares information, personal info will be governed by a publisher’s privacy policy and not Apple’s, the company says.
Apple has sold more than 15 million iPads the company says iPad customers are huge consumers of news, downloading more than 200 million news apps to date.
Everything you need to know about ‘The Daily’
By Chris Hogg
News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch unveiled his company’s vision for the future news publication today and it’s called “The Daily.” The publication is available only on the Apple iPad and represents News Corp.’s vision for the future of digital media.
Speaking at a press conference at the Guggenheim Museum in Manhattan, Rupert Murdoch unveiled The Daily along with Eddy Cue, vice president of Internet Services for Apple.
“New times demand new journalism,” said Murdoch. “The devices that modern engineering have put in our hands demand a new service edited and designed for them. Our challenge was to take the best of journalism and combine it with the best of contemporary technology.”
During the press conference, News Corp. showed off some of the app’s unique features: 360-degree photos let readers see everything from a specific location; high-definition video; graphics that respond to touch; full customization with the ability to pull-in custom content that matters to a reader; and the ability to share content via email, Twitter or Facebook.
“There’s a growing segment of the population that is educated and sophisticated that does not read national newspapers or watch television news,” said Murdoch. “But they do consume media, and they expect content to be available to them any time and anywhere.”
From a business standpoint, Murdoch said The Daily has cost $30 million to get to where it is and operating costs will be less than $500,000 per week. Murdoch said profitability is easier to achieve because costs are much lower than those associated with traditional news publications.
“We can and we must make the business of news-gathering and editing viable again,” said Murdoch. “Our aim is for The Daily to be the indispensable source for news, information and entertainment. [There is] no paper, no multimillion-dollar process, no trucks,” said Murdoch. “We’re passing on these savings to the reader.”
The Daily will cost 14 cents per day, or 99 cents per week. Yearly subscriptions are available for $39.99.
Murdoch said The Daily is not a legacy brand moving from the print to the digital world so the company will have license to experiment, a commitment to innovation and “a responsibility to evolve and respond to customer’s need.”
App details, features and content
News Corp. Chief Digital Officer, Jon Miller, said The Daily will produce up to 100 pages of content per day using all types of media. When viewing content, readers can zoom out and view stories in a carousel view or shuffle through content they haven’t read yet. Voice overs offer readers the chance to hear content and a video anchor will host some stories similar to how a TV news anchor reads news.
Readers can clip articles, save text, record audio comments or email content. Content within the app will hyperlink to the outside Web and Twitter feeds will be imported to stories. For example, an article about a particular athlete or celebrity will offer a direct, embedded Twitter feed so readers can hear the latest news from that individual within the app.
Customization is also a big part of The Daily: In the sports section, for example, readers can select schedules, scores, stories, photos, etc. and individual teams. The section then shows them up-to-date news and Twitter feeds for their favourite teams and individuals rather than one big generic sports feed. The Daily publishes each morning and content is updated throughout the day, including breaking news.
News Corp. says a mirror-image of The Daily content will be available online but many features will be iPad-only. Content can be shared via social networks so friends can consume individual stories or photos for free, but readers who go directly to the website will hit a paywall and be prompted to pay for content.
According to reports, The Daily boasts a dedicated staff of 100 people. The app is designed to be aesthetically unique, offering news, content, visuals and video in new ways.
Murdoch was originally planning to announce The Daily in mid January with Apple CEO Steve Jobs, but the launch was delayed and Jobs has since taken a medical leave of absence.
Murdoch has reportedly been showing off The Daily to potential advertisers and friends in recent weeks, including guests at a cocktail party at his apartment last night.
Yesterday, News Corp. announced John McKinley has been appointed Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and President of Technology for the organization’s digital media group. McKinley previously served as the CTO of AOL.
Apple introduces new subscription model for App Store
The Daily has been talked about widely in media circles, as journalists, pundits, analysts and observers watch to see how a digital-only publication is received by the public. Some believe apps will hurt print subscriptions in the future, so News Corp. is pushing to establish a digital audience.
The launch of The Daily is being marked as a significant event in media circles because it brings with it a new subscription option from Apple to allow publishers to get the digital equivalent of recurring magazine or newspaper subscription revenue.
Prior to the launch of The Daily, an iOS user could pay for an app and download it to their iPod, iPhone or iPad but it was a one-time charge only. There have been “in-app” purchase options, but that feature was not designed with publishers in mind. With the exception of the Wall Street Journal, Apple has not allowed media organizations to sell more than one issue via the App Store.
“We’ve included a whole new subscription billing that’s as easy as one click,” said Apple’s Eddy Cue. “We think iPad customers are really going to embrace this.”
Apple said The Daily is the first publication to take advantage of this new subscription option and that other publishers will be able to in the near future. Cue declined to say when that will happen.
Apple has sold more than 15 million iPads the company says iPad customers are huge consumers of news, downloading more than 200 million news apps to date.
When asked if News Corp. plans to make The Daily available on other tablets, Murdoch confirmed the company plans to, but he did not specify when. “As other tablets get established, we will develop [The Daily] to go on them,” he said. “We believe last year, this year and maybe next year belong to Apple.”
What will Murdoch’s iPad magazine The Daily look like?
The Daily, an upcoming iPad-only magazine from Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, has delayed its launch but already the Web is buzzing with rumours of what this unique media property will look like and how it will function.
Scheduled to launch this Wednesday, The Daily has been delayed for several weeks, or even months, according to media reports. iPad owners will have to wait a bit longer to their hands on the iPad-specific publication created by Murdoch’s News Corp.
But at the very least, hints of The Daily’s looks and function are being revealed on the Web. Damon Kiesow of Poynter.org said he got a sneak peek of the source code of its recently-launched companion website, The Daily.com. The front page is dominated by photos, and Kiesow spotted two headlines that may or may not relate to actual articles: “Oprah’s Biggest Gamble” and “A Bridge Too Favre.”
He also said The Daily may include an embedded video player and “the availability of Facebook, Twitter, Digg, Reddit and Newsvine article sharing options.”
AdAge found out other details: The Daily will include a multi-story front page, but “magazine-style layouts within, as well as graphics that take advantage of the iPad’s capabilities in terms of rotating, pinching and swiping and video culled from News Corp. outlets.”
Ads will also be super-sized. AdAge quotes Porter Gale, VP-marketing at Virgin America, saying: “This will allow us to use images that can be turned around in a 3-D motion and that’s going to make it much more creative and memorable.”
One hundred writers, editors and designers have been hired to work on the project. Subscriptions will cost 99¢ a week after a two-week trial through Apple’s App Store.
Apple’s iPad is the sole device to offer The Daily at launch, although AdAge reports Murdoch is planning to spread The Daily to other tablet devices, such as Android and BlackBerry devices.
Andy Chapman, head of digital trading at WPP’s Mindshare, is optimistic about The Daily’s chances: “This will be a good temperature check for the marketplace for what consumers’ financial threshold is for good content. We’re all waiting to see where the audience gravitates.”
This article was originally published on DigitalJournal.com