The iPad only newspaper—The Daily—will launch on January 17^th. At least that is what Peter Kafka from Media Memo says “multiple sources” have told him. Earlier rumors slated The Daily to launch in beta form near the end of December with full service rolling out in January sometime so it’s quite possible that this is the real release date. Interestingly, Apple was rumored to announce iOS 4.3 on December 9^th but that obviously has not happened yet. The coming update to Apple’s mobile operating system will be vital to support the newspaper’s subscription service.

The Daily will make use of iOS 4.3’s subscription feature which allows apps to automatically update with new content provided the owner has a valid subscription to the service. That’s the beauty of Rupert Murdoch’s stab at cornering news in the growing tablet market with the help of his media empire—the newspaper’s app will automatically fetch each day’s ‘printing’ for users without any additional steps required. The app hopes to revitalize the newspaper industry and prove that digital only papers can be profitable. It will do this through heavy use of video and multimedia content embedded right into articles. With a subscription only costing 99 cents a week and so many iPads in the hands of consumers already, it has a very good shot at succeeding.

Besides just the subscription feature that will appear in Apple’s iOS 4.3 update, improved AirPlay and AirPrint support are also expected. Neither feature was polished enough when became available through the recent iOS 4.2.1 update and it makes sense that since Apple already planned on releasing an update shortly afterward, it decided to toss out the current versions of each with plans to fix them later. Or at least that’s what we should hope. If the current versions of AirPlay and AirPrint are really what Apple expects us to use, then I’m sorry but this just isn’t going to cut it. Limited printer support and the inability to stream content from most apps are both deal breakers right now. Keep your fingers crossed.

Will iOS 4.3 fix AirPlay and AirPrint? Can an iPad only subscription newspaper like The Daily be profitable? What other apps will make use of subscriptions on iOS 4.3? Let me know what you think.