The New York Post Shuts Down Mobile Safari

[Jeff Campbell]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://gizmodo.com/5813369/the-new-york-post-now-blocks-mobile-safari-vistors-from-accessing-their-web-site' target='_blank'>http://gizmodo.com/5813369/the-new-...-their-web-site</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"'You shall not pass!' booms Gandalf the Grey as mobile Safari visitors arrive at the New York Post web site this weekend. Sorry, correction: That's how it played out in my head. Reality is more mundane and mostly annoying."</em></p><p><img height="338" src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/at/auto/1308526478.usr105634.jpg" style="border: 1px solid #d2d2bb;" width="600" /></p><p>Now instead of getting a welcome ad promoting an app for access, you get instructions on how to get the $1.99 USD app [<a href="http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=VoxLcfp5Si4&amp;subid=&amp;offerid=146261.1&amp;type=10&amp;tmpid=3909&amp;RD_PARM1=http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/new-york-post/id378590820?mt=8" target="_blank">affiliate link</a>]. The $1.99 price of the app will get you 30 days of access, and after that first 30 days you will need to subscribe at the rate of $6.99 USD per month, $39.99 USD for six months and $79.99 USD for a year. I agree with Dave Winer when he <a href="http://scripting.com/stories/2011/06/18/theNyPostTheIpadAndTheWeb.html" target="_blank">rails</a> about how Apple needs to stop sending info to the servers that I'm on an iPad, then I could use the browser to read what I want, besides it shouldn't be called mobile since its pretty much full size. What are your thoughts?</p>

[Vincent Ferrari]

Screw 'em. I'll just get my news elsewhere.

That's the problem with these folks. When they make a cash-grab, people just turn to other sources. Admittedly, the NY Post app is WAY better than the website on the iPad, and it was so good I almost subscribed a few months back, but I'll be damned if I'm gonna subscribe because they forced my hand.

It's only a matter of time before someone circumvents this.

[Phronetix]

I think that I can see it both ways...


On one hand, I can understand how this will ruffle feathers. People generally regard news content with a sense of entitlement. It feels free, and the content providers have tended to just provide it. Advertising and affiliations pay the bills, and everyone is generally happy.

On the other hand, we are now existing in a place where consumers are annoyed by ads, by the cluttered sites that are the result of attempts to maximize income, and browsers are supporting reader settings that remove this other info, reducing the yield for the advertiser. News is not free. This is a tactic by the NYP to address that. Is it fair? Depends where your biases lie I would say.

D