Rupert Murdoch’s plans to charge for mobile access to the Wall Street Journal next month, reports Paid Content.
It will cost current subscribers $104 more for the Wall Street Journal Mobile Reader. There will be a pay wall for m.wsj.com as well.
Following a cue from WSJ.com, some content will continue to be free. The subscription service starts Oct. 24.
Most major news providers don’t charge mobile users. But accessing full WSJ content on an iPhones or BlackBerry will cost $2 a week to those who subscribe to no Journal properties, and $1 for those who get either pay for the print edition or the wsj.com on-line edition.
Dow Jones will try to convert some users into paid subscribers by offering 90 days of full access to anyone using the service prior to that date. It’s adding new features to the mobile service: personalization, stock tracking, advanced saving/sharing and “enhanced” market data.
Paid Content interviews Paul Reddick, CEO of Handmark, which makes the mobile applications for the WSJ, as well as AP, AFP and Reuters. He says charging for content isn’t the sole answer for mobile publishers. Ads, he says, should also be part of the monetization strategy.
Following its acquisition of Freerange Communications in April, Handmark also launched apps for Forbes, CBS Interactive. Handmark makes mobile apps for Blackberry, Apple and Android, among other devices.
Only Five Percent Of UK readers would pay for online news, says a PCUK/Harris Poll.
