NY Post blocks Web site access to iPad users

 (Credit: Screenshot by Lance Whitney/CNET)

The New York Post is now blocking iPad owners from accessing its Web site through mobile Safari, trying to instead force them to download and use the paper's own iPad app.

iPad-owning New Yorkers looking for their daily Post fix online will see nothing but a message directing them to download the paper's $1.99 iPad app where after 30 days of free access they must pay for a monthly or annual subscription to read the content--$6.99 for one month, $39.99 for six months, or $74.99 for a year.

But the block seems limited just to mobile Safari on the iPad. iPad owners can still access the Post's content through alternative browsers, such as Opera Mini and Terra. iPhone and iPod Touch users can also still access the Post's content through any mobile browser, including Safari.

The new move has already stirred up jeers among online critics. Staci Kramer, an editor at digital-media news site PaidContent, called it "one of the most poorly conceived paywall efforts I've come across" and said it had also broken access to the site from the Post's Facebook page, instead presenting iPad users with the same redirect message.

Dave Winer, who blogs via Scripting News, said the move breaks the Web. "If no one used the iPad it wouldn't matter. But lots of people use it." Winer also said he doesn't imagine Apple likes the move.

The Post did not immediately return CNET's request for comment.

View the original article here

NY Post blocks Web site for iPad users

 (Credit: Screenshot by Lance Whitney/CNET)

The New York Post is now blocking iPad owners from accessing its Web site through mobile Safari, trying to instead force them to download and use the paper's own iPad app.

iPad-owning New Yorkers looking for their daily Post fix online will see nothing but a message directing them to download the paper's $1.99 iPad app where after 30 days of free access they must pay for a monthly or annual subscription to read the content--$6.99 for one month, $39.99 for six months, or $74.99 for a year.

But the block seems limited just to mobile Safari on the iPad. iPad owners can still access the Post's content through alternative browsers, such as Opera Mini and Terra. iPhone and iPod Touch users can also still access the Post's content through any mobile browser, including Safari.

The new move has already stirred up jeers among online critics. Staci Kramer, an editor at digital-media news site PaidContent, called it "one of the most poorly conceived paywall efforts I've come across" and said it had also broken access to the site from the Post's Facebook page, instead presenting iPad users with the same redirect message.

Dave Winer, who blogs via Scripting News, said the move breaks the Web. "If no one used the iPad it wouldn't matter. But lots of people use it." Winer also said he doesn't imagine Apple likes the move.

The Post did not immediately return CNET's request for comment.

View the original article here

NY Post blocks website access for iPad users

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The New York Post has blocked access to its website from the iPad's Safari Web browser in a bid to drive users of Apple's tablet computer to the newspaper's paid application.

An iPad user attempting to reach NYPost.com using Safari is met with a page that says "NYPost.com editorial content is now only accessible on the iPad through the New York Post App."

The New York Post iPad application costs $1.99 to download from Apple's App Store and gives a user an introductory 30-day subscription to the News Corp.-owned newspaper. A one-month subscription costs $6.99.

The ban on access to NYPost.com only applies to users of the iPad's Safari browser. Desktop or laptop computer users can access NYPost.com normally.

The New York Post's move is the latest in a campaign by News Corp.'s Rupert Murdoch to start charging online readers of his newspapers in an era of shrinking newspaper circulation and eroding print advertising revenue.

Murdoch already charges for full online access to The Wall Street Journal and Britain's The Times and Sunday Times and News Corp.'s The Australian plans to begin charging from October.

News Corp. launched a digital newspaper created for the iPad, The Daily, in February which costs 99 cents a week.

View the original article here