While Google is pressing on to unleash its Android Newsstand in a few weeks, Apple has already have some minor setbacks with the launch of the Daily Newsstand which was going to occur on January 19th 2010. It seems for the moment the launch is pushed back to an indeterminate amount of time, because they need to further tweak its online subscription service.
The online digital newspaper subscription service entitled “The Daily” is supposed to be launched at the Museum of Modern Art by both Steve Jobs and Rupert Murdoch on Jan 19th. The Wall Street Journal had News Corp confirm the delay on the project to be launched exlusively on the Apple iPad.
News Corp intends to go all out with the Daily News service which allows customers to be billed automatically, instead of the current iTunes methodology of only charging customers a one time fee. News Corp also has hired a staff of 100 veteran journalists and online media writers from their competition, such as; Forbes, New Yorker and New York Post. So you can be sure that News Corp is quite serious about this new undertaking and is not taking it lightly, or regurgitating content pulled from its other media sources.
Although Apple has not confirmed the relaunch date, sources close to the matter say it will not be months away, but instead will only be a few weeks.Â
This launch of the Daily is tremendously important to Apple, in its bid to cornerstone the Digital News Market before Google can get the jump on them. They delay is probably important to get the service to be up to Apples high standards, right out of the gate. Both companies stand to loose allot if this new venture fails, and will not bode will for the immediate future of getting solid news on tablet computers.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
