News Corp. shutters the Daily, launched as its iPad-only newspaper

News Corp.’s the Daily will expire on Dec. 15, the company announced Monday. The tablet-only periodical was the first of its kind, a newspaper that was published for the iPad alone initially. After its first year, it branched out, expanding to the Kindle Fire and other Android devices.

Rupert Murdoch launched the Daily with much fanfare in February 2011. Its executive editor, Jesse Angelo, will become publisher of the New York Post, another News Corp. property.

News Corp. is beginning a reorganization that will split the company in two. Publishing properties including the Post, HarperCollins and the Wall Street Journal will remain under the name News Corp. A new entertainment-focused company, Fox Group, will include Fox News, Fox Broadcasting and 20th Century Fox films. Murdoch will retain leadership positions at both companies.

News of the end of the Daily was part of a larger announcement about the company’s division. In a company statement, Murdoch praised the Daily and its staff.

“From its launch, the Daily was a bold experiment in digital publishing and an amazing vehicle for innovation. Unfortunately, our experience was that we could not find a large enough audience quickly enough to convince us the business model was sustainable in the long-term. Therefore we will take the very best of what we have learned at the Daily and apply it to all our properties. Under the editorial leadership of Editor-in-Chief Col Allan and the business and digital leadership of Jesse, I know the New York Post will continue to grow and become stronger on the Web, on mobile, and not least, the paper itself. I want to thank all of the journalists, digital and business professionals for the hard work they put into the Daily.”

Do the last days of the Daily signal something greater for journalism in the new digital age? Not exactly, goes one line of thinking.

“The Death of the Daily should not be equated with the death of journalism, long-form reporting or storytelling innovation — all things the Daily sought to bring to its readers,” writes Lance Ulanoff at Mashable. “It’s simply a reminder that, in the post-print digital world, the power has shifted from publishers to consumers. They build their daily digital newspapers on the fly. All publishers can do is seek how to become part of the mix.”

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