Nihon Keizai, Japan's main financial newspaper, launched its new Web version on March 23. As with the print version, there will be two editions, morning and evening. There will also be Web-exclusive features like videos. Subscribers who opt for the Web version only pay ¥4,000 a month, while those who subscribe to the print version (¥4,380 a month) will only pay ¥1,000 more if they want the Web version as well.

Nikkei hopes to attract 300,000 Web subscribers over the next three to four years. That's about a 10th of the circulation of the Nikkei's print product. Though it's being described by other media as a bold move, Nikkei's acknowledgment of the future is more like a hop than a leap. Newspapers around the world are moving slowly but inexorably from print to the Web, and a number of major media already charge for online content. News Corporation chief Rupert Murdoch recently announced that two of his publications, The Times and The Sunday Times, will charge for access to their new Web editions.

What's interesting about Nikkei's denshiban (electronic edition) is that it has been designed to preserve its print version. From now on, more of Nikkei's resources will be applied to cyberspace, but in terms of pricing, the Web version looks more like "added value": You buy the paper and get the Web for just a thousand yen more.