It is a good thing that Rupert Murdoch is trying to make money off digital content subscriptions at an age when most companies have substituted them for advertising revenues. But the bad thing is that the monetization strategy does not seem to have been thought out well before implementation. Just a couple of days after announcing WSJ's monetization plan for iPhone and Blackberry users, Rupert Murdoch has altered the plan.
On September 15, Rupert Murdoch, the chief at News Corp announced an access fee for iPhone and Blackberry users who would want to access content from the Wall Street Journal on their mobile phones. Accordingly, people who are already subscribers to Wall Street Journal will have to shell out $1 per week to access the content on their iPhones. Those who are not subscribers needed to pay $2 a week for content access. This was seen as highly unfair to the subscribers who will have to dole out more cash to access the very same content that they have already paid for.
Following repercussions, Rupert Murdoch today announced a modified pricing plan. Subscribers to both the print and the online versions of WSJ no longer needed to pay extra for content access via iPhones. However, if you are a subscriber of either the print or the online version, then you will be required to pay $1 per week. Other non-subscribers need to pay $2 per week if they want to access it from the iPhone application.
News Corp says that the iPhone app (direct iTunes link) will still be free for download and a part of the content will still be available free of charge. This shall be in sync with the free content that is available on the internet for the online users. The extra charge shall only be required for those iPhone users looking to access the paid-content section.
It will be interesting to see how many iPhone users will be willing to pay the additional charge for reading the Wall Street Journal on their iPhone. How about you?
[via BusinessInsider]
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No…
I will absolutely not pay for it
Oh HELL no. This is really laughable!
No
There are so many other free sources of news out there. WSJ=Fail
Not a chance.
Why? Really, what does the WSJ offer that other sites don't?
lmfao someone fell off his rocker.
Hell No !!!
" They Live and We Sleep, You Starve and They Eat !!! "
http://www.theyliveandwesleep.com
The WSJ is often the source of many big business stories and does have large collection of special guest editorials but I'm not paying $104 a year to read the WSJ on my phone.
I would consider a $.05 per article charge.
fuck no
Hell No, i am reader of WSJ everyday on my iPhone, after hearing this no way i am going to pay, what they offer that other don't, i will look out for another news reader. f u wsj. Worst thing, they even charge for print subscribers, how funny is this
Hell no! As if Wall Street hasn't got enough of our money
I will send him my dirty underpants once a week what s robber
No. Too much money. Charge the advertisers, not the readers.
Free isn't working.time to pay if you diverse journalism.
Here is another one. When reading an article on the web, I can print it, copy any portion of it later use. I cannot do any of these with iPhone app. With all the limitation, I have to pay more for iPhone app than for Web only capability? What am I missing? GREED !!!!
Definitely NO!!! USA is still free.
Never ever… Who want to pay more than $100 a year when you can get that for free. On a serious note I am very disappointed with this pricing as I was a big fan of this app.
come on hackerz, hack this app and let us know how to get it free! not going to pay for it!!! new york times is gooooood