Remember Fairfax’s iPad app for the SMH and Age? And how it was essentially just a PDF of the paper that cost $18 a month and was universally panned by reviewers on iTunes? Well, the newspaper giant is trying again. Second time’s a charm, right?
The new apps for the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, both of which launch tomorrow, will cost $8.99 a month when they start charging for them in December. Until then, the content will be sponsored. Even once the sponsorship period ends, you can expect to see magazine-style ads throughout the publication, which is neither a direct translation of the newspaper or the Fairfax websites.
Fairfax has developed the new app in-house, so it will be interesting to see just how worthy it is of a $9 monthly subscription. Anyone keen?