The Associate Press is pushing deeper into digital publishing by forming a new business unit to create content and products for the myriad platforms that are emerging. The first order of business for AP Gateway, the new unit, will be to develop a subscription-based product for the iPad, CEO Tom Curley told the Colorado Press Association, according to PaidContent.

'The Capping Event'

AP Gateway is "the capping event of a series of pieces we've been putting into place pretty methodically over the past four-five years," says AP chief revenue officer Jane Seagrave. "More to the point, we think this is where the future of revenue for the cooperative is."

AP has invested $60 million so far in building out the infrastructure for this initiative. It is also bringing on board Nick Ascheim as GM from the New York Times, PaidContent has confirmed. The subscription product for the iPad will offer value-add content that can't be found on the app AP already has developed - an app that is free. Seagrave says AP is not going to start charging for the app, which theoretically should work on the iPad when it is released.

AP Gateway will interface with AP's News Registry, a service it rolled out last summer designed to tag news content with usage rights and source attribution. It is currently in beta testing with more than 200 newspapers. (via Editor & Publisher).

The new business unit could also create products on request - such as a regional app or portal.  AP will be the largest news organization to date to join the iPad platform, Mac Observer wrote.

Can AP Talk to End Users?

Most publishers have been skittish about joining in part because of Apple maintains control over the relationship with the consumer - a big issue for publishers despite the 70-30 split that Apple is offering. It is unclear, though, Mac Observer said, whether AP was able to forge a separate deal with Apple.