The Wall Street Journal is getting ready to release its first paid digest-style news app, What’s News, according to Capital. The app will be named after the signature news column that has been featured on the Journal’s front page.
What’s News app is designed to build subscriber loyalty as the Journal tries to reach their goal of 3 million paying customers by 2017. According to company estimates, it has more than 2 million paying customers, which 700,000 of them are digital-only subscribers.
All of the content in the What’s News app will be produced by a team of journalists and will provide important daily news stories. Capital says the What’s News app will enter beta testing in July, before rolling out on Apple’s iOS operating system.
Sources who have seen the prototype of What’s News describe the app, “as a scan of the day’s most important news stories broken down for readers on the go.” They also said What’s News will be a key component of the Journal’s digital strategy.
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The Wall Street Journals move to create its own mobile application comes soon after The New York Times revamped its own mobile app, NYT Now, which the app is now free. The Wall Street Journal will have plenty of competition including Apple’s News app, NYT Now, and Yahoo’s News Digest.
It was just last year, the WSJ announced a new partnership with Flipboard, which allows Flipboard users to view both free and paid content. For Flipboard, this was a big win because it shows its ability to work with major publishers and give its users a unique experience.
The WSJ app offers instant access to breaking news, market information, and expert commentary from around the world. You can download the Wall Street Journal app for iOS and Android.
