With Apple’s iPad finally on sale outside the USA, publishers have taken a relaxed view to making content available to users of the much-awaited tablet. While News Limited’s national daily ‘The Australian’ was ready with a monthly-paid iPad app, others have opted to make content available through apps such as NewspaperDirect's PressReader… or simply through a browser. The iPad hype was palpable at ‘The Australian’, with Ken Cowley – now chairman of apparel and footwear brand R.M. Williams – photographed with the tablet and involved in the euphoria. Cowley is credited with suggesting “a serious national newspaper” to Rupert Murdoch, 46 years ago. Of the dedicated iPad app, he says, “It’s fantastic.. and it will help secure the future of The Australian, which is a very personal and emotional thing to me.” News Australia has had access to technology developed for an application for News Corporation’s ‘Wall Street Journal’, creating an alternative reading experience for which it is charging A$4.99 a month through Apple’s AppStore. The app, featured in a four-page wraparound to the print edition’s business section today, is menu-driven, giving readers the opportunity to browse or navigate directly to sections which interest them. GXpress understands that there is considerable scope for development of the application, and the publisher promises new features including videos and image galleries in coming months. Elsewhere in the Asia-Pacific region, Australian metropolitan daily the ‘Sydney Morning Herald’ is among 1500 titles which can be accessed in replica form using NewspaperDirect’s PressReader. Others in the region include the ‘Bangkok Post’ and Hong Kong's ‘South China Morning Post’. The iPad-optimised reader and the first seven titles are free downloads from the AppStore, with others offered for $0.99 per issue or via a paid subscription. Top: The ‘Australian’ pictures Ken Cowley with the iPad and a first edition of the paper