You might be wondering where The Daily fits in with our wallets and expendable cash flow being savvy MacStories readers, and we’re glad to say the subscription plan isn’t terrible. For the price of a yearly subscription to a major newspaper, you can have The Daily on your iPad for just $0.14 a day, which works out to be $51.10 a year, or $46.76 for the remainder of this year (you’ll find updated pricing in our event coverage after the break). That’s definitely much better than the $1.00 a day figures we were hearing just weeks ago (it’s $1.00 a week), and it’s a pleasant surprise for anyone embedded in digital media. You’ll find the latest updates after the break.
Update 1: The pricing continues to get better. Apple’s Eddy Cue explains that in Apple’s subscription model, you’ll be billed weekly at $.99, or yearly at $39.99. Much like a magazine subscription, you’ll save money if you subscribe to a long term subscription over a weekly subscription.
Update 2: Eddy Cue was questioned about subscriptions coming to other publications: A subscription model is available on The Daily starting today as it launches, and Apple will announce its plans for a subscription service to other publishers “soon.”
Update 3: Eddy Cue also hinted that subscriptions may not only be available on the App Store, but from publishers’ web sites as well. Otherwise, details about subscriptions for other publications still remain vague.
Update 4: In Apple’s updated Terms & Conditions, Apple notes that they “may request permission to provide personal information to the Licensor for Marketing purposes.” Privacy being a concern, Apple concludes by noting declining to share personal information will not prevent the customer from reading The Daily.
Update 5: The Daily will also launch another new subscription model: a free trial. During the free trial period, if you choose to subscribe you will be charged immediately.
Update 6: Apple may ask for your name, email, address, and zip code so that marketing messsages can be delivered to your inbox. The licensor will also most likely use your information for usual marketing purposes. Again, you should be able to decline providing any info.
Update 7: Subscriptions are “non-refundable.”
Update 8: The Daily is available for free in the iTunes App Store.
Update 9: From Q&A: If you share an article from The Daily (say on Facebook) it’ll be available online for your friend to view at The Daily’s website. However, you cannot browse the entire content of The Daily online, if that makes sense.
Update 10: The Daily provides a two-week free trial period, presented at app launch.
Update 11: There is no daily subscription of $.14 per day for The Daily. Instead, you’re offered a $.99 weekly plan, or a yearly subscription of $39.99 (20% off the weekly price). Two sections in the app allow you to register and subscribe. I believe you can subscribe without registering (providing your personal info), and when I attempted to subscribe, I was defaulted back to the two-week trial period without The Daily asking for my iTunes Account password. Either I’ll have an expensive charge or this isn’t working right now as the date remained unchanged. When I attempted to “Restore Subscription,” I was finally asked for my iTunes password. Hopefully this issue will be ironed out soon. (As a note: this shouldn’t be a result of the iTunes App Store password timeout - the date for the subscription didn’t change.)
Update 12: While you can read content unregistered, you have to register or sign in to The Daily to comment. There had to be some catch: that’s it. Sharing articles via Facebook, Twitter, and email shouldn’t require you to register. One cool note: you can leave a voice comment.
Final Word: The Daily is a free app from the iTunes App Store that uses a built in model for subscriptions. Subscriptions start at $39.99 for one year, or $.99 a week with reoccurring charges. However, customers are presented with a free two week trial period as they launch the app for the first time. While personal information is requested per optional registering, it shouldn’t be required to subscribe to The Daily. Apple will announce their subscription model for other publishers soon (with their cut of 30% applying anywhere they can get it), and you can download the The Daily for the iPad right now at this link.
