The Punch newspaper has launched its mobile site along with a paid mobile news service. According to the official statement from The Punch, paid subscribers to the mobile site will also enjoy “the exact digital version” of the Punch’s printed daily.
The subscription fee is N600 monthly (amounting roughly to N20 daily), and payments can be made by cash, ATM cards or Visa cards.
The monthly fee is moderate, in my opinion, but I am not sure that people will take up this service en masse. Why? Other sites offer basically the same news item for free.
Anyway, I visited the Punch mobile site at http://mobile.punchng.com, and the layout is clean, simple, and usable on mobile. The Punch is offering a free 7-day trial, and I tried to subscribe but hit an error page along the line. Find screenshots and captions below.
Punch mobile homepage
Clicking on the Top Stories link on the homepage led to this page listing the top stories of the day
Clicking on a link on the top stories page results in a prompt to login. Below the login form is a link that says, Free Trial
On this page, I am asked for my phone number in order to subscribe for the 7-day free trial
When I proceeded to subscribe for the free trial, I was aksed for my phone number, which I entered, but got an error page repeatedly each time I hit the submit button
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March 18th, 2009 at 1:11 am Browsing with
Not a bad idea at all. Good to see that our news organizations are beginning to see the value of technology in disseminating information. That said, they should have thought of other means of generating funds from the site than asking readers to subscribe.
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March 18th, 2009 at 11:51 am Browsing with
How much would it cost in data charges to view the site and wouldn’t this have to be added to the cost of use?
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March 18th, 2009 at 2:55 pm Browsing with
Its a welcome development but there are issues I’m not happy with. One, I am not willing to part with N600 to access free news. Two, they have conveniently left out data charges (i guess they must assume we are all browsing free Yomi). I am glad Punch, my favourite newspaper has initiated this but like Dayo said they need other means of generating income. Lastly, Yomi you stole my article! I was going to write on it but had difficulties accessing the site. Kudos!
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March 19th, 2009 at 6:00 am Browsing with
Bayuze, sorry I beat you to the draw
Enjoymentman, it would cost whatever rates your network operator charges for data.
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June 1st, 2009 at 7:44 am Browsing with
Punch is trying but this is wrong idea ‘coz there are just too many free sites offering the same news and or better. lol
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