Apple, News Corp. to unveil iPad newspaper

Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs will appear next week with News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch to introduce The Daily, a digital newspaper for Apple's iPad tablet computer that Murdoch has called his company's "most exciting project." The event is tentatively planned for Jan. 19 at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. News Corp. owns Dow Jones & Co., publisher of The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires. The plan amounts to a coup for News Corp., allowing the media giant to share in some of Apple's cachet as it launches a new product that many hope will offer a template for publishers in an industry starved for new online business models. While details about The Daily have been sparse, news of high-profile journalist hires have trickled out as News Corp. has amassed an editorial staff for the venture. The company reportedly is willing to invest $30 million in the project. Meanwhile, News Corp.'s new foray into digital media comes at a time when a previous attempt at monetizing the Internet is struggling. Myspace, the social networking site it acquired in 2005, just laid off nearly half its workforce in an attempt to revive itself after being eclipsed by the rapid rise of Facebook Inc.