Rupert Murdoch has talked up the iPad and said he believes his paywall experiment at The Times and Sunday Times is going to be a success.
Speaking by video-link to an event in Sydney, Australia, he said:
“Initial expectations that (Apple) would sell a few million (iPads) will fall way short of the mark,” Mr Murdoch said.
“It looks like they will sell around 15 million iPads this calendar year and more than 40 million by 2012.
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“And the iPad is just one of many tablet or slate computers in the pipeline. News Corp fully intends to be across all those platforms too.
“As you know, we are rolling out a paid content strategy across our newspaper websites. Already The Wall Street Journal is the largest of its kind in the world with 1.1 million paying subscribers online.
“The Times of London and The Sunday Times last month started charging for access to their websites.
“It’s going to be a success. Subscriber levels are strong. We are witnessing the start of a new business model for the internet.
“The argument that information wants to be free is only said by those who want it for free.”
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