Murdoch's News Corporation is to launch an iPad newspaper, The Daily, in the near future, but Branson started selling Project through iTunes yesterday, with a launch party in New York today - the seat of Murdoch's empire.

While Murdoch's plan will open the door to questions of how he can make it work alongside printed newspapers, Branson has no such allegiance and may instead seek to compete with printed products.

It appears if he is targeting a lad-based market to begin with and has enlisted former Zoo, FHM and Arena editor Anthony Noguera to work alongside his own daughter Hollie Branson.

The title is available for $2.99 (£1.79) per month and requires users to download a reader app before it can be bought.

Readers get a constantly updating magazine, which utilises multimedia specialities such as recorded interviews as well as written ones, one of the early features is a 3D tour of Tokyo.

It is unknown if there are any plans to launch a printed tie-in yet.