The Daily trials to extend for 'several more weeks'
updated 09:20 pm EST, Wed February 23, 2011
News Corp confirms extending The Daily trials
News Corp in a talk on Wednesday confirmed some expectations that it would extend trial periods for The Daily. Publisher Greg Clayman said that users would get extensions for 'several more weeks' to help accommodate the problems with the iPad app, including "stability issues" and other unusual behavior. He argued to paidContent that some of the problems would have been difficult to address without a wide-scale test.
He also mildly critized Apple's process for handling pre-release software. Testers have to have their devices individually registered and thus can't be checked in a large enough scale. Apple also explicitly forbids marking apps as betas or otherwise unfinished in the App Store. "There are no beta apps," Clayman summarized.
Another News Corp-backed service, Hulu, had the luxury of a web-based beta test that allowed widening the scale as much as was necessary. Clayman confirmed a delay from January 19 but said it was valuable time to get the app and service polished for the release.
"We were the first subscription service and that took a minute to get right with Apple," he said.
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Oct 2010
paid
Certainly my paid subscription year will only begin whenever the trial ends.
Sure.