The New York Post took a risky move to try and push iPad readers to its native iPad app. Those who try to visit the home page from mobile Safari, even from an alternate link, are redirected to a page linking to the app. Desktop users and other mobile platforms, like Android, don’t face the same limit.
Short of redirect tricks, the move effectively forces iPad owners to pay a minimum $7 per month or as much as $75 per year to get access.
It’s not clear why the Post decided on a very platform-specific block, though the News Corp-run outlet may be hoping to drive paid iPad readership much like its sister iPad-only publication, The Daily. Company chief Rupert Murdoch has been a champion of trying to reverse the tendency towards free, ad-supported news outlets on the web and has put an increasing number of websites behind paywalls, such as The Times of London. Most of these, though, have been platform-agnostic.
Apple hasn’t commented on the shift but might not necessarily endorse it. While it drives users to an iPad app, it also makes Android and the BlackBerry PlayBook more attractive by giving their users the full site for free.
