Leaked reports today suggest that Apple CEO Steve Jobs and media supremo Rupert Murdoch are set to announce the launch of a brand new digital newspaper.

The new publication is expected to be available only on Apple’s latest runaway success story, the iPad, with no paper or web versions. According to the reports, the title will combine “a tabloid sensibility with a broadsheet intelligence.”

This is yet another move by Murdoch to transform the publishing market and generate new forms of revenue following the erection of paywalls for many of his key titles including The Times and the News of the World.

It is still unclear what the geographical focus of the paper will be, but with its HQ in New York, it is fair to assume that, initially at least, this will be a US offering only.

The title will be dispatched automatically to subscribers and will cost 99 cents a week.

So will it work?

This is certainly an interesting experiment and, as it is backed by two of the tech and newspaper industries’ biggest players, would seem to stand a fighting chance.

However, it does seems surprising that Murdoch is trying to create a brand new version exclusive only to the iPad device, when a more radical (and equally competitively priced) iPad/tablet version of some of his existing titles, which already have the brand recognition and loyalty, would surely make more sense…

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