WSJ Begins Selling Single Issues, But They Don't Come Cheap
March 23, 2011
The Wall Street Journal began selling individual copies of its morning newspaper today through its iPad app. Each single issue, which can be purchased by tapping a link on the app’s home screen, is billed directly to your iTunes account. As such, Apple receives 30 percent of each transaction. While convenient, this option is actually quite expensive.
Each issue, priced at $1.99, gives you access to today’s issue of The Wall Street Journal as published that morning. In addition, you’ll gain access to the European and Asian editions as well.
However, the single subscription will not give you access to the Now edition, which includes top stories from WSJ.com and is updated every 30 minutes.
Single issues are saved within the app and can be accessible anytime. You can access your purchased issues through The Journal's iPhone/iPod touch app by tapping the “Restore” button in the Saved Issues folder located on the Start Screen.
While The Wall Street Journal should be commended for making single issues of its venerable publication available, less expensive alternatives are available.
For $3.99, you can purchase a weekly subscription directly from the app. This subscription does give you access to the publication’s Now edition, as well as full access to its iPhone/iPad apps. This subscription does not go through iTunes and fees are collected from the company.
However, making a purchase through WSJ.com is your best option.
You can purchase a Digital PLUS with Newspaper Delivery for just $2.25 per week for the first 13 weeks. Thereafter, the price jumps to $8.49 per week. This gives you the paper edition plus full access to WSJ.com and to the iPhone/iPad editions.
Finally, the Digital PLUS edition is an even better deal. For just $1 per week, you’ll get full assess to WSJ.com and to both iOS editions. After 13 weeks, the price jumps to the regular price of $3.99 mentioned above.
The choice is certainly yours to make.
The Wall Street Journal iPad app and iPhone/iPod touch app are available in the App Store.
