News Corp executive confirmed tablet-focused news source

24th November, 2010 by adina
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James Murdoch, head of Asia-Europe division of News Corp, confirmed the existence of the long-rumored tablet news source of the company. The son of the founder Rupert Murdoch, at a conference with a Spanish investor, said that Daily Planet (codename of the outlet) would be soon detailed. Details were not given except that it would be tablet-only, but the iPad is supposed to receive early support.

Some hints were given by the reaction to tablets of the young Murdoch. He said the tablet would foster a new type of journalism. Compared to e-paper readers, tablets are full color and do resemble more to color print. As for the touchscreen, it allows users to directly interact with the content.

Daily Planet is expected to have its own staff, but also to rely on resources of News Corp media empire to get the news. The company has just hired an executive from Viacom as its head.

Rupert Murdoch’s interest in the tablet zone comes mainly from the intention of re-familiarizing customers with paid news, following more than a decade of free, ad-based material found on the web. For instance, The Wall Street Journal has a price of only $4 per week for applications residing on the iPad or Android tablets, which is enough to successfully compete with the printed edition. Many sites owned by News Corp, such as the Times of London or The Wall Street Journal, either did or have begun to require full access subscriptions.


     

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