What has been billed as ‘the future of journalism’ – News Corporation’s new iPad-only newspaper, ‘The Daily’ turns out to be just a slick implementation of news publishing on the Apple tablet (writes Peter Coleman).

But ‘there’s more’… and will clearly be more and more as the product evolves.

News had an iPad version of the ‘Wall Street Journal’ at the app store when the ipad launched a year ago, and versions for national broadsheet ‘The Australian’ and the group’s Australian tabloids are among these which have followed.

What’s interesting about ‘The Daily’ – which News chairman Rupert Murdoch and Apple internet services vice president Eddy Cue launched at the Guggenheim last night – is that it’s a standalone iPad product, depending on its own subscription and advertising revenue, while drawing on group editorial resources.

The suggestion is that versions for other major tablets will follow, but for the moment, the floor is Apple’s.

Subscriptions are based on a 99c-a-week ($40-a year) rate and it’s not clear whether News has scored anything special other than the share arrangement which sees Apple get 30 per cent of the take. Cue says Apple will make an announcement about making its subscription model available to other publishers “very soon”.

The position on ownership of subscription data is not clear from last night’s announcements.

US telcos are reported to have sponsored a two-week free trial subscription.

As reported in GXpress during the IfraExpo, News recruited a team of 100 journalists for the product, and other material is coming from the ‘Atlantic’, ‘New Yorker’, AOL and even the ‘New York Times’ as well as News’s own titles.

‘The Daily’ has snappy headlines and pithy reports, plus a range of other content. Up to 100 pages a day are promised on six areas – news, sport, gossip and celebrity, opinion, arts and life, and apps and games.

There’s a mix of current technologies: cascading page views, large 360 degree photographs, and tight integration with social media. “Not an island”, ‘The Daily’ will embrace Twitter feeds from celebrities such as Lily Allen.

At the launch last night, Murdoch told guests the iPad demanded “that we completely reimagine our craft”:

“People expect tailored content, anytime, anywhere. The magic of newspapers lies in their serendipity and the deft touch of an editor – we're going to bring that magic to ‘The Daily’.”

While there is no partner web or print product, there’s nothing revolutionary in the idea of a dedicated editorial product. While recognising that the future is mobile, it’s only a step beyond producing a online-only news product such as News has in Perth and Fairfax has in Brisbane and Adelaide.

The concept creates the opportunity to target specific audiences, while drawing on resources from elsewhere in the group. The key to success will be to attract sufficient income to pay for these resources when core revenues from print products dwindle.

Murdoch says he thinks ‘The Daily’ will need 800,000 subscribers to make it viable – production costs Will cost "less than half a million dollars a week", without subscribers and advertisers, Murdoch adds.

The figures are boggling: $30 million of development costs are reported to have been written off already, but the $500,000 a week puts the first year’s investment well over $50 million.

How ever much Murdoch tries to make that sound affordable, it’s likely that more than subscriptions and advertising will be needed to sustain it. Our bet is that the key will be the revenue which comes from a close relationship with regular readers… and for that, subscriber data will be crucial.