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Rupert Murdoch's News Corp and Apple unveiled The Daily this morning. They're calling this the first publication with daily, original content created just for the iPad. Basically, the first tablet newspaper.

Putting aside (for a moment) that this comes from the same company that brings you Fox News, this looks like it could be very big. The app is free to download, and the content is 99 cents per week, or $40 per year. They'll publish "up to 100 pages" of original content every day, all exclusively on the iPad. Murdoch said they'll be bringing The Daily to other tablets in the future, but "last year, this year, and next year will belong to the iPad."

The pricing model is going to have the executives at all the other publications who have tried to put their content on the iPad rethinking things in a hurry. Magazines like Popular Science, Wired, and The New Yorker have been offering gargantuan downloads of fancified PDFs, typically for $4 or more per issue. This is the same content you can get in print, for more than you'd pay for print. The Daily sounds like it's the first shot at a real, editorially driven daily "paper" with a reasonable price point, that was created to really take advantage of the potential of a device like the iPad.

Of course, it's a shame this has to come from a dickhead like Rupert Murdoch. In response to a question about The Daily's political tone, one of the people introducing the app said, "We wanted a new brand. We're patriotic, we love America. We believe in free speech. As for specific editorials, well read it. You'll be surprised."

Which tells us absolutely nothing.

This is going to be interesting.*

You can theoretically re-watch the announcement here, but it's not working for me right now. Engadget live blogged it, too. You can download the app from the App Store now.

* I left my iPad at home today, because I'm an idiot, so I'll have to let you know how the app actually looks and works once I get my hands on it.