• by David Goetzl , March 22, 2010

Marriott will sponsor USA Today's iPad presence for the first four months after the device's April debut, although it is unclear what the hotel chain's relationship will involve, such as inventory on the USA Today locale or other benefits.

Efforts to contact the paper's parent Gannett and Marriott were not successful Friday.

But Marriott's underwriting through July 4 will "do a lot to get ... our designs in front of many, many people," according to David Hunke, USA Today's president and publisher.

Gannett executives said Apple reached out to the publisher to debut on the tablet when it goes live on April 3. Apple did not return a call or email inquiries.

Other content providers may be circumspect about what to do with the coming iPad tablet, but the national newspaper will employ a subscription model.

"Our guys were very excited about the opportunity -- we will be there," said Hunke in a gathering with analysts last week. "It will be classic, very unique USA Today design that was built for this device, as it was for the iPhone in a previous generation."