Times editor Robert Thomson has said he would consider following the Independent in launching a tabloid version of his paper if the Indy's experiment proves successful.
He told Media Guardian yesterday: "Probably every broadsheet in Britain has tabloid dummies in the top drawer and that would be true of the Times. The question of commercial convenience, the question of how the market has changed and how best to take advantage of that - these are serious and current issues and it would be foolish to rule out that kind of response."
Commenting on the Independent's tabloid edition he said they had done well in not dumbing down their tabloid edition, but added: "In format terms it's a shame they haven't experimented more. What they've done is to boil down the sheep - it's a tallow tabloid - rather than taking a more ambitious approach and thinking about how you can bring the values of a broadsheet to a completely different format."
The tabloid Indy launched this week. It is initially available only within the M25, but should be extended out to regional cities if successful.