The NYT and the blogosphere, Ctd-the Atlantic

Dave Winer thinks that the NYT has focused too much on themselves:

They do not offer something to the readers than the Times survive, and they are not explicitly about that. It would not have been wise to, at this time to offer something to sweeten the deal. Something really exciting and new that you get when you pay the money. Something that your palms sweat and makes your heart beat a little faster?

I got $ 700 last week to a few small improvements to my iPad. If they had said "give us $ 700 so that we can survive," well, I would have done. But I feel better about getting the new features.

Darrell Etherington finds the new plan myopic when it comes to apps:

[A] pp users will be most influenced by the new subscription plan. Apps will still work for the iPhone and iPad readers, but they will only provide access to the Top News section (remember the Editor's Choice app? If that.) and all other content requires a digital subscription. No monthly limit applies in both app.

I suspect, this would be where the times sees the biggest drop of the readers. Light to moderate app users faced with the choice of a digital subscriber always or strictly go back to the web with its wider access, I think most will choose the latter, which could hurt the Times's ability to attract lucrative advertising deals to the apps.

Nieman journalism Lab completes more comments on the new pay-fence.

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