Rupert Murdoch Confirms Plans for Wall Street Journal iPad Application

Time to initiate "operation snatch the pad."

Just make it reasonably priced - or free! If it is more expensive than the normal web subscription, it better have FAR more impressive features than the standard site.

Murdoch isn't going to pass up an opportunity to bring in revenue for the Journal or any other publication in his portfolio.

Hopefully, he will have more luck with the iPad than he had with MySpace!


Edit: I changed my mind. I actually hope that we'll get another proof that he's a newspaper guy with no understanding of how the internet generates money in a sustainable manner. Hide Macrumors, before he knows about it, buys it, destroys it and starts charging us for it.

I strongly believe that Steve Jobs knows what he's doing. This is the future of the internet and will solve a lot of the problems that have limited certain players from participating fully in the online revolution.

I would be willing to pay, say $2.99 per month to have access to my favourite newspaper. The publication would win because they wouldn't have to rely on advertising and could predict their revenue a lot more accurately. Most importantly, this would breed loyalty and would allow the editors to define their content to their paying audience.

I don't plan on buying a first generation iPad because we all know that certain features have been withheld from v1.0 but I definitely see it fitting in between my iPhone (carry everywhere) and my MacBookPro (work station). iPad is fills the niche of laying back on the couch or against a tree in the park and enjoying the internet in your hand.

The 60 days that the iPad was given since announcement to sales floor was a masterstroke of marketing genius because it has allowed the world to digest what the iPad is and give people the opportunity to find out that they will love one. Further, it has put the iPad name on the mouths and minds of nearly anyone not living isolated from the world.

i don't get it. is macrumors going to put every "so-and-so is going to make an ipad app" article on the front page as if it's wire breaking news?

cnn is going to make an ipad app
wsj is going to make an ipad app
nyt is going to make an ipad app

yeah, we sorta get the point....everyone is going to make an app for the virtual shopping cart called the ipad. it's sorta...common sense.

The Wall Street Journal reports (subscription required) on comments from Rupert Murdoch, Chairman and CEO of parent company News Corp., who noted that the newspaper will be present

That itself is quite sad, and telling of how this iPad program will Likely be presented.

"In fact, we've been allowed to work on one, and it's under padlock and key. The key is turned by Apple every night,"

un-****ING-believable

Personally, I wish Apple would have come out with some type of media store for things like digital newspapers and magazines. Something that has more capabilities that the extremely limited eBook which could then be used on other devices as well. I know it's more of a pipe dream than anything, but relying on the individual newspapers to make their own apps using Apple's iPhone OS is just going to fragment and further kill the industry. Sure the big guys like Murdoch can afford to develop their own digital product for any number of devices, but for the smaller media outlets, that kind of software development is just too expensive and out of reach. Sure you can get someone to make a cookie cutter RSS iPhone app for you for $500, but to make a quality polished app is another story. Plus as a user, it's a real pain to have to have a separate app for every newspaper or magazine out there that I have interest in. It's the same thing with digital comic books, though at least there have been a few developers who have made one-stop shops for them.

un-****ING-believable

Would you expect anything else from Apple, Inc.?
;)