OLD Media Moves

WSJ begins charging for article access on mobile apps

October 27, 2009

Brian Morrissey of Mediaweek reports that The Wall Street Journal has flipped the switch today on a plan to make many articles on its BlackBerry and iPhone applications available only to subscribers.

Morrissey writes, “The switch affects articles that fall in the paper’s core business and financial coverage, leaving free stories from lifestyle, sports, politics and other categories.

“A WSJ mobile subscription costs $2 per week. Journal print and online subscribers must pay $1 per week. Users of the WSJ’s mobile site do not need an extra subscription.
 
“The WSJ Mobile Reader apps remain free of charge. Like WSJ.com, the mobile apps will carry a roughly 50-50 subscriber to free ratio. A tech glitch on Monday put all new content on some older versions of the app behind a subscriber wall. Upgrading to the new version of the app fixes that, according to a WSJ spokesperson.”

Read more here.

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