Gordon Young reviews The Daily, Rupert Murdoch's new iPad newspaper
Where The Daily really wins is in its packaging. Dynamic design that allows pages to be viewed both in portrait, as well as landscape, with content engineered to match each format, is fun.
And you can see potential with ideas like the 360 degree photos. The name ‘Wired’ springs to mind in terms of overall feel, look and experience.
However, where ‘Wired’ is a monthly The Daily is, well, daily. In fact it is more than daily with content being update throughout the day. You can’t help but wonder about the technical challenge taken on by the publication.
It is by far the most ambitious project of its type. Never before has someone attempted to pack in so much programming wizardry into a platform which is produced every day; and one senses that this could potentially trip the project up.
In fact, you do really feel that this is an app that is produced by people who love technology more than content. In this app, tech is the king, and content seems to be on tap.
It is flat, dull and lacks a sense of personality and fun. To quote that other newspaper legend – William Randolph Hearst – there wasn’t a ‘fuck me Martha’ to be found amongst the articles. All the ‘wow’ was in the design.
Another area in which the Daily seeks to engage is social media. You can share contents with your chums – particularly gratifying if they don’t have an iPad. You can view The Daily online, but it is nowhere near as good, justifying the ‘this is great, pity you can’t see it sentiment!’
And, of course, that is the nub of the issue for The Daily. Will the ‘have an iPads’ ever outnumber the ‘have nots’? Because News Corp will have to sell a heck of a lot of subs to break even.
Would I fork out 99 cents a week? Probably. But then would I read it every day? Not so sure. For example, my favourite newspaper app is The Telegraph, which I read every day before The Times, which I also pay for.
The reason? It takes about 45 seconds less to download The Telegraph. And, when I get it, it presents information in a far more straightforward way.
What I really want from a newspaper is news. That is why, I suspect, if The Daily is really going to take off it will need far better content. If I was them I would poach the likes of Martin Clarke, editor of the MailOnline!