The New York Times has updated its iPad and iPhone apps to support in-app subscriptions, reports note. Three options are available: the first is $15 a month, and grants full access to the Times website and iPhone app. $20 covers the website and iPad app, while $35 opens up all digital content.
A week of issues is available for free if a person is willing to submit their name, email address and ZIP code. Going through the Times’ site is a better deal however, since there the first four weeks of access can be bought for 99 cents. Web sales eliminate the 30 percent cut Apple normally takes from App Store transactions.
The newspaper has, intentionally or not, long delayed implementing in-app subscriptions. The deadline for compliance with Apple rules in fact expired yesterday, suggesting that the Times may have tried to avoid switching over as long as possible. On June 9th, though, Apple relented on some of its original terms. In-app payment choices must no longer cost the “same price or less” as external ones, and an external option doesn’t require an in-app equivalent.
