paidContent.org| Scripting News
Dave Winer was one of the first to notice and tweet that the Post is now forcing iPad users to download its subscription app to read the paper ($6.99/month; $79.99/year) on the tablet; a Safari browser version is no longer available. (You can still read the paper in the iPad using the Opera Mini or Skyfire browsers.)
Okay this is bad. This is breaking the web. If no one used the iPad it wouldn’t matter. But lots of people use it.
I wonder how Apple feels about this? I can’t imagine they like it. I can see the ads now. “Get an Android tablet to read the web.” …
Stop the madness now! Please.
The move has brought in 125 comments on AppleInsider.com, 199 on on Slashdot, and over 450 reactions on Engadget (“I expect this blocking on Android very soon JUST so they can lose even more viewers. Anyone who would pay for a tablet subscription is just bleh when you can get it on a desktop or you know, another source”). Poynter colleague Jeff Sonderman points out that as of this morning, the Post has the top paid news iPad app in the App Store — almost certainly as a result of this move.
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