And publishers say advertising revenue has already brought the twice-daily ‘Brasil 247’ to breakeven. Launched earlier this month, it was the top app on Apple’s Brazilian store.

Two experienced journalists – Leonardo Attuch and Joaquim Castanheira – are behind the project based on WoodWing publishing technology, which will be used to extend publication to other tablets shortly.

Attuch says acceptance by readers and their feedback “surprised us a great deal”.

Says the chief executive and editor-in-chief, “It is interesting to see that our app has a large number of downloads from the United States. Some readers are even comparing our product to ‘The Daily’.

“They appreciate that ‘Brasil 247’ is free and can be shared 100 per cent via Twitter, Facebook and email,” he says.

The new edition is not an adaptation of a printed newspaper, but was created specifically to take advantage of the resources and features available on the iPad. It provides news, views and analysis and reports on technological, economic, social, cultural and environmental events and trends.

At the weekend, readers are offered a lifestyle magazine called ‘Oasis’.

A team of 25 staffers are supported by external contributors who can remotely access the Enterprise crossmedia publishing system.

The internally-funded project has already come close to break-even point: “‘Brasil 247’ demonstrates the cost-efficiency of tablet publishing,” says WoodWing Latin America general manager Steve Schaffran, “and this will show even more clearly when it moves to multiplatform support, including the Android and HTML5 versions.”

Statistics for the tablet market in Brazil show that about 200,000 tablets are already in use, and with continuing iPad growth and the advent of Android-based tablets, this is expected to reach 1.5 million by the end of the year. In addition, the government is studying the use of tablets in public schools.