Japan's Asahi to focus on e-readers

Japan's Asahi Shimbun daily said Monday it would cease the English-language print supplement it has published in the International Herald Tribune and instead focus on providing digital content.

In a message to its IHT edition readers, the newspaper said it would expand English-language content now available on electronic readers and smartphones such as Amazon's Kindle, Apple's iPad and iPhone and the Sony Reader.

The Asahi -- a liberal-leaning daily with a circulation of almost eight million in its Japanese-language version -- said in its message that "far from being the end, this is a new beginning for us".

It said Monday's Asahi section in the IHT was the final one and that "from today, we will be more aggressively pushing Asahi's English-language content in digital format as part of our efforts to reach a global audience".

The Asahi also said that from Tuesday it would become the consigned agent for printing and delivering the IHT, the global edition of The New York Times, in Japan, and that the US daily would expand its own Japan news content there.

(c) 2011 AFP