Romanian newspaper Gandul, owned by Publimedia International, will give up its print edition and go exclusively digital, as part of a new business model, the company has announced. Starting April 8 the newspaper will become a digital product, available online, on iPad and mobile phones. The newspaper will launch its new iPad application and a new version of the site www.gândul.info, with new features and a redesigned layout.

Other Romanian newspapers like Ziua, Cotidianul and Gardianul have also gone exclusively online in the past, after having suspended their print editions, as a result of the crisis which has affected advertisers, and thus revenues in the media industry.

Besides the newspaper Gandul, Publimedia also owns other newspapers such as daily business newspaper Ziarul Financiar, the sports newspaper ProSport and magazines like Time Out, ProMotor, The One, Business Magazin, ProTv Magazin.

The switch to digital already started to happen elsewhere in the world two years ago, with media products dedicated exclusively to the online having been already launched. For example, Rupert Murdoch's News Corp has recently launched an iPad-only newspaper called The Daily. Media pundits expect e-readers and tablet computers, such as Apple's iPad to influence the media market on a long term, saying they would shift the way people consume media, as well as the way media companies package their products.

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com

Corina Saceanu, corina@romania-insider.com