News International working on new mobile entertainment service

Offering a combination of showbiz and sports coverage.

Having closed its News Of The World newspaper, News International is thought to be working on a new mobile entertainment service.

The Guardian reports that a digital team of 21 people is being recruited to create online content and apps for both smartphones and tablets.

It cites former staff of the News Of The World as believing this may be an attempt to compete with the Daily Mail's online celebrity coverage, which has attracted 70 million monthly unique users, making it the UK's most popular national newspaper on the web.

"The online department has been criticised for not being able to build apps fast enough," says the Guardian's source. "This could be their attempt to beef up NI’s app presence. So they could do a Mail online-style showbiz app, soccer app etc and come up with one-off apps related to major events, Olympics, royal weddings etc."