Boston Globe Launches Subscription “GlobeReader”
Globe Reader
The newspapers continue their quest to find a paid online subscription model, and this week the Boston Globe is rolling out its paid offering. GlobeReader is comes with e-reader software that allows people to read a digital version of the Globe, presented in a “print format” style.
The cost is $4.98 a week for new subscribers (it’s free to existing print subs). But you can read the Globe online for free right now at boston.com/globe. So what are you paying for? Formatting? GlobeReader is decidedly unwebby, and seems to spring from the business side as opposed to the consumer side. This really goes against the concept of “Native News” – the idea that your online offerings have to spring up from the utility of the Web and that you can’t impose an old-model structure upon it.