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Daily Update for December 3, 2012
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen. Subscribe via RSS
News Corp. to shut down iPad-based newspaper, The Daily
News Corp.'s experiment with the newspaper of the future is coming to an end. In a press release covering a wide range of corporate restructuring initiatives, the media conglomerate announced that it is closing The Daily, the tablet-only newspaper that launched with much fanfare in early 2011. Though a "bold experiment in digital publishing," the venture was not "sustainable in the long-term," explains News Corp. Chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch in the press release. Publication of The Daily will halt on December 15. Remaining assets and some staff of the iPad-based magazine will be folded in to the New York Post. The digital newspaper had approximately 120 employees after laying off staff earlier this year. [Via AllThingsD]
Microsoft Office for iPad reportedly on track for November release
A recent report from BGR reiterates the earlier claim from The Daily that Microsoft is working on a version of Office for the iPad. According to BGR, Microsoft is bringing the complete Office suite to both the iPad and Android tablets by November of this year. BGR's source claims the version he saw was almost identical to the one leaked earlier this year by The Daily. The Daily got wind of the BGR report and responded with a post directed at Microsoft that was sharp and forthright. The authors called Microsoft "filthy, lying liars" for allegedly showing The Daily a version of the Office software for the iPad and then saying publicly it was "not a real picture of a real Microsoft software product." You can read The Daily's response on its website.
The Daily hints at iPhone version
Speaking to Venture Beat, Greg Clayman, the publisher of the iPad-only newspaper The Daily, hinted at a forthcoming version of its newspaper app for the iPhone. Clayman said a scaled-down Daily might just look like its recently released standalone guide to Angry Birds Space. The Daily's team has created five custom apps for clients so far, and the Android version of the ABS guide just arrived. If [the phone version of The Daily] resembled the guide we built for Angry Birds, I wouldn't be surprised. You can check out The Daily's guide to Angry Birds Space to get a sneak peek.
Microsoft Office for iOS gets blurrycam treatment in weird party-room
What you see before you is a single image purporting to be Microsoft's new Office app for iOS. We can certainly believe such an app exists, and according to The Daily, the UI is similar to OneNote with an added dash of Metro. You'll be able to produce and edit Word, Excel and PowerPoint files locally and online, but the app is still to run the Cupertino's approval gauntlet. The report also claims an Android version is isn't in the works and but that a Metro-styled refresh of OneNote is due in "the coming weeks." That said, we're not sure what sort of place doesn't take the plastic off its carpets, leaves big "product of Spain" crates lying around with leopard-print plushies and USS Enterprise logos hanging on the wall -- but perhaps we've underestimated Redmond's capacity for a good party. Update: We incorrectly reported that an Android version was forthcoming, we've edited to correct our mistake -- please accept our sincere apologies.
Daily Update for February 3, 2012
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen.
The Daily celebrates a year with 100,000 paid subscribers on iPad
One of the iPad's first regular periodical publications (if not the first one) The Daily launched a year ago. It's been a fairly rocky year. Originally, the Rupert Murdoch-funded app hoped it could get at least half a million subscriptions to keep its publication going; a few months ago we heard that there were 120,000 daily readers, and now Mashable says the paper boasts 100,000 paid subscribers. Despite not nearly reaching its original goal, The Daily still seems to be rolling on. Publisher Greg Clayman says that when the app originally launched, the goal was to make an experience unique to the tablet. That's why The Daily began only on the iPad and has only recently added content on the Android platform, via the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1. Clayman says that while the company has kept its choice of platforms slim, The Daily has been delivering on its promise to break news; it was the first to report on the story of Paula Deen having diabetes and Alec Baldwin wanting to run for mayor in New York. Clayman says that The Daily is still headed for profitability "over the next couple of years," which he says is actually better than most traditional publications. The Daily might not have the readership that it hoped to have, but a year into its existence Clayman seems optimistic about the publication's future. "We now have a fully baked, fully functional app CMS, and a large, engaged readership," he says. "A year ago we were asking how to build the boat. Now it's about understanding the best way to steer the boat."
Verizon brings The Daily, Slacker Radio apps to Android tablets
Verizon has just announced a slate of new partnerships at CES today, bringing The Daily, Slacker Radio and a host of other apps to select Android tablets. With today's announcement, Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 owners will be able to access Rupert Murdoch's tablet-optimized news app, with either a $4 monthly subscription, or $40 annual plan. The Galaxy Tab 7.7, meanwhile, will receive the app at a later date. The carrier is also bringing Slacker Radio to a wider range of Android slates, and has launched apps like TouchyBooks and Trend Micro Mobile Security Personal Edition, as well. For the full run-down, head past the break.
Daily Update for September 29, 2011
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes, which is perfect for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen.
The Daily averaging just 120,000 readers per week
News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch introduced the iPad newspaper The Daily (free) almost eight months ago with expectations that the paper would easily meet the half-million subscribers required for the publication to break even. Now Bloomberg is reporting that The Daily is well behind that goal, with an estimated weekly circulation of only 120,000 readers. The Bloomberg post cites advertising exec John Nitti of Publicis Groupe SA as saying that the 120,000 reader figure is for unique weekly visitors, which also includes readers who are taking advantage of the paper's two-week free trial. As a result, the actual number of paying subscribers is less than the total readership figure. After the free trial, The Daily is available for US$0.99 per week or $39.99 a year. Nitti thinks that 120,000 readers is still a respectable number for The Daily, and expects that his client (Verizon) will continue to advertise on the paper. Bloomberg notes that The Daily is expanding beyond the iPad, adding a Facebook version this month and an Android edition within the next three weeks.
The Daily gets 800K downloads but loses $10 million this quarter
The latest quarterly results from News Corporation say The Daily, the much-publicized iPad newspaper, has lost US$10 million. Much of the loss is associated start-up costs. News Corp. reports The Daily costs about $500,000 a week to produce, and revenues depend on advertising and subscriptions. The company has not revealed how many of the people who downloaded the free introductory subscriptions have converted to the pay model. When The Daily came out, I thought the $39.99 annual subscription cost was reasonable, but the content mix turned me off. I'm not sure if the magazine has the proper flavor of news that would appeal to iPad owners. The Daily looks great and works very well on the iPad, but without compelling content, I'll never be a customer. Several other magazines have experimented with the iPad, often focusing on cost. Most recently, Time Magazine has offered free iPad issues to customers with paid subscriptions. Many publications are too expensive on the iPad, and cost more than the paper equivalents. Other solutions, like Zinio Newsstand, have a nice mix of magazines at reasonable prices, but basically you get a PDF of the magazine, which is a pain to read because you are constantly re-orienting the page to get the best fit. The Zinio app also offers a text mode, but then the layout and illustrations vanish. What are your thoughts? Have you been willing to pay for magazines on the iPad? If not, what would it take to get you to open your wallet?
The Daily generated 800,000 downloads, $10 million loss in first quarter of operation
It's still too early to pass judgment on News Corp's daring venture into tablet-only newspapers, The Daily, but at least we now have an idea of how much it costs to get a project like this off the ground. Having spent $30 million developing the concept before launch, the company's latest quarterly reports indicate another $10 million loss was incurred on the early operations of The Daily. That's resulted in 800,000 total downloads of the iPad-only app, though a breakdown of how many of those were just trying out the free trial and how many have stuck around for the paid version hasn't been forthcoming. News Corp stresses that The Daily is still a work in progress, one that we've heard may also be making its way onto Android tablets, and looks very much committed to seeing its plan through to the end. So if this digital-only, subscription-paid news idea fails, it won't be for lack of trying.
Social sharing on The Daily dropping fast
The Nieman Journalism Lab reports that social sharing from iPad news app The Daily is falling precipitously, according to data from a firm called PostRank. Social sharing is when users share content on networks like Twitter or Facebook; the average number of pieces shared from The Daily on Twitter has fallen from over 200 to under 50 in just the past few months since its launch. There's two sides to this. First, these are obviously not actual readership numbers, and just because readers aren't sharing many articles doesn't mean they're not being read. It's also important to remember that The Daily subscriptions run weekly or yearly, so a certain amount of its readers have already paid for a year of content. However, given that this is one metric of engagement with the fledgling virtual publication, it's probably not a good sign. As Nieman's Joshua Benton says, this follows anecdotal evidence we've heard that the app has been declining despite an early spike in interest. If subscriptions and downloads correlate with these social sharing numbers, The Daily may be in trouble already. [via BetaBeat]
The Daily set to launch in the UK, US edition only
According to The Guardian newspaper, Rupert Murdoch's The Daily will be available in the UK within the first half of this year, but first Apple must introduce its new subscription-based pricing system in the UK. Jon Miller, the chief digital officer of Murdoch's News Corporation, said that it would be "not too long from now" until the news app arrives in western Europe. It's understood, however, that this will simply be the US edition made available outside of the US. There was some conjecture that a British-specific edition would be made available in the future, but The Guardian reports that "... the media giant [News Corp.] emphasized there were no immediate plans for a British edition of the title." The Daily launched in the US on February 2, 2011 and was received with a mixed reaction, particularly by the TUAW team. Check out Steve Sande's, Dave Caolo's and Mel Martin's (first and second) impressions of the electronic newspaper. The Daily has been available as a free trial since its launch, but next week it will cost 99 cents a week or US$39.99 for a year-long subscription. Although News Corp hasn't released any official figures, The Guardian estimates around 5,000 users have signed up for the the year-long subscription. [Via TNW]
The Daily coming to Android tablets this spring?
Been sick with jealousy over all those people reading The Daily on their iPads? Well, it looks like that could all end some time soon if AllThingD's PKafka has heard correctly. Apparently, News Corp's tablet-only magazine / newspaper will be heading to Android this spring (or some time in Q2). Considering the team has gotten quite a bit of help from Apple on the development side (word is Apple also rushed to help them fix some of the early bugs) and was the first to use Apple's new subscription service, that does seem a bit quick, but we're certainly not complaining about more apps coming to those Honeycomb tablets. We just hope the random crashes and slow load times are fixed by then.
Washington Post extends free iPad app subscription
The free ride on the Post iPad app was supposed to end in mid-February, but the Post app has been updated, and the iTunes Store description says that the full access subscription is still "provided for a limited time." That's the same thing that another iPad paper, The Daily, did the other day. One wonders if the newspapers are afraid to pull the plug and see how a paid version will fare. I don't blame them. App Store reviews of both endeavors have been dreadful. Maybe they are trying to set up the in-app subscriptions Apple has allowed. This latest update to the Washington Post app now includes the ability to read offline (duh!) and fixes the frequent crashes that plagued the software. I haven't seen anything in either of these efforts that would convince me to subscribe when the free trial ends. How about you? Were you enticed by the apps, or are you going to dump them when or if the free trials end?
iTunes shocker! Apple announces App Store subscriptions
Hot on the heels of the Daily, the oft-rumored Apple subscription service is finally spreading out to the rest of the app store. Love it or lump it, anything currently available in the company's online marketplace, including magazines, newspapers, video, and music, can now be offered on the subscription model. "All we require," said Steve Jobs in the press release, "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." (This sounds familiar.) Publishers are also restricted from linking out of the app to locations that allow the user to circumvent the in-app purchase (and publishers can't offer better deals outside of the app store). The rationale here? Apple gets thirty percent off the top off in-app purchases -- enough of a cut, we're guessing, to prompt some bigger publishers to skip the platform altogether (outside purchases, of course, are exempt from this fee). PR after the break.
Yahoo! announces Livestand for iPad, available first half 2011
If you've been following TUAW's reports about The Daily, you're aware that many of the TUAW bloggers are so fed up with the buggy, crashing newspaper app that they've removed it from their iPads while the app is still free. For me, the crashes and slow loading weren't as much of an irritant as the lack of customizable and local content. I just don't want to pay for horoscopes, fashion news and entertainment gossip that I can't turn off, and the fact that I can't read any local news on the app killed it for me. Yahoo! has apparently been listening, as the struggling internet giant has announced -- but hasn't shipped -- its solution to the problem that is The Daily. It has announced Livestand for iPad, a customizable news app that will be available "in the first half of 2011." There's no word on whether Yahoo! plans to offer the app for free or, as in the case of The Daily, it will be using subscriptions to refill its coffers. Yahoo! wants to capitalize on the huge volume of content that it has available from multiple publishers, the billions of photos available from Flickr and the many advertising agreements it already has in place. The company says that Livestand will be a digital newsstand that is "continuously programmed by a person's interests and contexts." Some of the screenshots (obviously mockups since the app isn't yet available) show local content boxes with top stories, weather and more, all wrapped in a very visual package that is reminiscent of the Flipboard content page. That makes me wonder if it might not just be a better, and more timely, solution to just load Flipboard with RSS feeds of local news from Yahoo! That solution would also make it less likely for me to have to put up with ads that are "data-rich, actionable, even location aware." I'll let you know how my Yahoo! feeds + Flipboard = Local Newspaper experiment works. Perhaps I'll get my own version of Livestand for iPad well before July rolls around. [via MacStories]
The Daily for iPad updated with new feature: It crashes more frequently now
Editor's Note: One tip that may resolve the frequent crashes -- the App Store description for The Daily is now showing a note stating "Current Daily users: Please delete your current app before upgrading to 1.0.1." This is not the way that app updates are supposed to be done. C'mon, News Corp. You're doin' it wrong! I've had a love/hate relationship with The Daily. It was a great idea for a low-priced subscription newspaper, but over time I lost interest in the type of stories offered, and the app was downright unstable. Fellow TUAW blogger Dave Caolo experienced so many crashes and suffered through slow loading of content, and he finally just gave up on the app. A fix was posted last night that claimed to make it faster, more stable and improve the "introduction experience," whatever that means. In my testing last night and today, I can say the app crashes more than Wile E. Coyote. In several instances, the app started up and left me staring at a blank screen. Sometimes the pages showed up. Sometimes they didn't. Sometimes articles had pictures, sometimes they didn't. Apparently the way to ensure it will at least work is to first delete the app while connected to iTunes, then download the updated version and re-install it. Not exactly the "Apple experience" for app updates, is it?
More thoughts on The Daily
I've been reading the News Corp. iPad newspaper The Daily since it came out last week. While my first impressions led to a positive review, the more I use it, the less I like it. First, it is VERY slow to load if it loads at all (an impression shared by others). Recently I'm getting a lot of black screens and am dumped back to the iPad app screen. When it works, the slow load, which is often more than 30 seconds over Wi-Fi, is just too long. The app should at least display a table of contents or top news stories while it downloads so that you don't wind up staring into space. The news content does not appear to be aimed at a serious news reader. The second highlighted category is "gossip." The balance of news to fluff is seriously leaning toward the fluff. Horoscopes, celebrity news and other tabloid content just aren't appealing to this news consumer, and there is no way to turn those sections off. The app itself has a beautiful layout. It's appealing to the eye and easy to navigate. The one exception is the requirement to have to rotate the iPad to portrait from landscape in order to read some stories. That seems just silly, and I hope that will be repaired. There is no tech section -- that's odd for something being sold to iPad owners. There seems to be some tech content under apps and games, but then that section isn't labeled properly.
