Apple and News Corp are developing a digital only newspaper called The Daily that will debut on the iPad early next year before rolling out to other platforms, according to US media reports.
The New York Times reported Monday that the companies have already sunk 30 million dollars into the new enterprise which is hiring some 100 journalists to create custom content for the publication that will feature rich media optimised to take advantage of digital platforms.
Journalists have already been hired from The New Yorker, The New York Times, AOL, The New York Post and the Atlantic, the report said. Rupert Murdoch's News Corp has been the most aggressive of all newspaper publishers at trying to charge for online content.
Led by the Wall Street Journal's success at attracting paying customers online, the company recently began charging for online access to its flagship British newspapers. The Times and The Sunday Times, and reported about 100,000 payments in the first four months.
Plans for The Daily include a monthly charge of about 4 dollars, which would be paid via Apple's App store. It will be published just once a day with occasional updates, and include no outside or incoming links, reports said.
The publication will not exist as on the standard web, but will eventually be offered to tablet devices running Google's Android operating system, reports said.