R.I.P. The Daily, The World’s First iPad-Only Newspaper

By

As of next month, The Daily will be no more.
As of next month, The Daily will be no more.

News Corp. has announced that it will cease publication of The Daily on December 15, less than two years after the iPad-only newspaper made its debut. The company has said that “technology and other assets from The Daily, including some staff,” will be folded into its New York Post tabloid.

The Daily has around 120 employees, AllThingsD reports, but according to News Corp. owner Rupert Murdoch, it couldn’t attract a large enough audience to make the business model worthwhile.

“From its launch, The Daily was a bold experiment in digital publishing and an amazing vehicle for innovation,” Murdoch said in a press release today.

Unfortunately, our experience was that we could not find a large enough audience quickly enough to convince us the business model was sustainable in the long-term. Therefore we will take the very best of what we have learned at The Daily and apply it to all our properties. Under the editorial leadership of Editor-in-Chief Col Allan and the business and digital leadership of Jesse, I know The New York Post will continue to grow and become stronger on the web, on mobile, and not least, the paper itself. I want to thank all of the journalists, digital and business professionals for the hard work they put into The Daily.

A lot of fuss was made about The Daily when it first launched, because it was the world’s first iPad-only newspaper at the time. The fact that there’s nothing else like it makes its failure even more of a shame, and it’s likely to discourage others from trying a similar approach.

The Daily isn’t the only News Corp. asset that’s headed for change, however. Its closure comes as part of a number of organizational changes in advance of the company’s upcoming breakup, which will spin off News Corp.’s assets into a new, traded company.

Via: AllThingsD

Newsletters

Daily round-ups or a weekly refresher, straight from Cult of Mac to your inbox.

  • The Weekender

    The week's best Apple news, reviews and how-tos from Cult of Mac, every Saturday morning. Our readers say: "Thank you guys for always posting cool stuff" -- Vaughn Nevins. "Very informative" -- Kenly Xavier.