New online business model will succeed, says Rupert Murdoch

Appearing by video at a new media breakfast and panel debate hosted by Media in Sydney this morning, Mr Murdoch said tablet or slate computers were "a perfect platform for our content''.

"We can deliver our content to our readers when, where and how they want it. It's cheap, convenient and constantly up-to-date,'' Mr Murdoch said.

He said News already had "tens of thousands of readers'' who had downloaded apps for The Wall Street Journal, The Times of London and The Australian on the iPad, and said subscriber levels for The Times  following its recent move to erect a pay wall around its online content were "strong''.

"It looks like they will sell around 15 million iPads this calendar year and more than 40 million by 2012.

"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.