Last week Capital New York reported that the Wall Street Journal plans to launch What’s News, its first mobile-only product. The paid app will offer digest-style news from the Journal’s top stories for readers on the go. According to Capital New York, the “What’s News” will go into beta testing next month.

The new app is said to be a critical piece to the Journal’s digital strategy, and as an add-on for subscribers, it could contribute to the Journal’s goal of 3 million subscribers by 2017. Because the Journal has not released details, it is not clear how this app will differ from its primary news app. Perhaps it will be similar to The Economist’s Espresso app which gives the day’s top headlines in a bite-sized news, perfect for those consuming news on the go. {The app pictured at right is the current app, not the new one.}This addition to the Journal’s news products comes five months after a February redesign of the U.S. print edition and three months after the April redesign of the Journal’s website, new iPad and Android apps, and the Journal’s app on the Apple Watch.”We built the new WSJ.com to fit into your life. You get everything you love about the Journal wherever you are and however you want to read it,” says editor-in-chief Gerard Baker in a video introducing readers to the new site. “Our new design delivers the same great experience whether you are reading on a laptop, tablet or smartphone.”In addition to the visible changes, the Journal is integrating its product and design teams into the newsroom to encourage collaboration. The paper has also created an innovation group to help the Journal respond more quickly from a technological standpoint. Instead of taking months to adapt to new technology and reader needs, it will only takes weeks. The “new” Journal can be more responsive and more mobile friendly, delivering news to readers how and when they want it.Insider Take:The Wall Street Journal is one of many news organizations including The Guardian and The McClatchy Co. to overhaul their newsrooms and products mix. It is trying to adapt to a moving target – a rapidly changing digital world – while delivering quality content, retaining its readership, and staying afloat financially. The Journal has been forced to evolve along with its competitors to keep up with new technology and a younger generation of news consumers.Such rapid change is an ambitious feat in any line of business. It requires innovation, risk and a solid belief that their work is valuable to its subscribers and, therefore, worth the investment. Will the Journal be successful with its piecemeal roll-out of new products? It seems like there are a lot of moving parts here, and a lot of audiences to please. It’s a scary endeavor.Hopefully, the Journal has the right team in place, is taking sufficient time to test each new product and adaptation, and is measuring results, quantitatively and qualitatively, to be sure it is making the right decisions.