WSJ App for iPhone and BlackBerry Going Paid?

Apparently the folks at News Corp are considering a change for its Wall Street Journal App for iPhone and BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM). The change? New features and options? Nope, the change would be making the app a paid one.

WSJ.com has been surveying users regarding willingness to pay for the app, but any results from these surveys is unclear. The WSJ has a policy of ‘never sharing results publicly’, so I suppose we’ll assume the results land on the free side of things, that is, up until the app goes paid, if it ever does. No potential pricing structures are available for the WSJ App, but I would imagine we’ll hear more about this soon.

Interestingly enough, Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) has added some new billing options with the 3.0 Firmware update. Subscription payments are now very much a reality. Also, developers and publishers can charge for additional content found within an app. I’m yet to notice this first-hand from any of the apps I’m currently running… But rest assured the newspaper apps are looking into these options diligently.

This is a tough one for me. I know there will be a segment of die-hard users that enjoy the WSJ app so much that they’ll unquestionably pay for it… But for myself, saying ‘yeah, take it for free, and use it as much as you want!’… And then a year or so later pulling the ‘OK, now you’ve gotta pay for it, $2.99 per month please!’… That just leaves a sour taste in my mouth. Either charge me up-front for it, or offer an initial ‘lite’ version with limited features that tempts me to pay up for a full version if I like what I see. Hopefully if News Corp makes the move to paid, the current version of the WSJ app turns into a ‘lite’ version, with fewer features and options than a new, paid version.

I better stop here or I’ll ramble on forever…

Your thoughts? Would you pay a flat fee and/or a subscription for full use of the WSJ app? Or would that turn you off completely?

[Via: PaidContent]