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]

NTT DoCoMo (NYSE: DCM) announced that its European subsidiary, DoCoMo Netherlands, has launched Europe’s first mobile service for downloading Japanese Manga comics.

The service called MANGA MODE will initially launch in France, and is expected to appeal to the growing number of Manga lovers in the country.

Customers of Bouygues Telecom will be able to use the service to download French translations of famous manga comics into their mobile phones and view them panel by panel using a dedicated reader app. Bouygues Telecom has posted a dedicate page on its mobile web portal from where customers can sign-up for the service…

[Via: slashphone]

At the recently ended Computex ‘09 in Taipei, Taiwan, embedded security solution provider Discretix announced that its robust, flexible Digital Rights Management (DRM) solution is now available for Intel’s MID platform. The solution features Discretix’ Multi-Scheme DRM client, and is optimized for Intel’s second-generation MID platform, codenamed “Moorestown”, and Linux-based Moblin OS.

Discretix’s Multi-Scheme DRM client is a versatile solution to protect the distribution and consumption of premium content across a range of mobile devices. With today’s announcement, MIDs based on Intel’s Moorestown platform will be able to support the major DRM schemes in use today – OMA DRM v1.0, OMA DRM v2.x and Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) WM-DRM 10. PCPRM, OMA BCAST or new schemes may also be added as they become available. As one of the world’s leading embedded security technology for mobile devices, Discretix’s solution delivers an outstanding level of security while overcoming the challenges of performance, power consumption and silicon footprint.

Commenting on the announcement, Discretix’ Raanan Tzemach said: “Discretix’s Multi-Scheme DRM offers a robust solution to MID system manufacturers and meets the most stringent requirements of operators. In combination with Intel’s Moorestown platform and Linux-based Moblin OS, it will help support a broad range of business models and offerings for a superior user experience. As a company, we’re excited to be working closely with Intel to make such advancements possible.”

In an effort to further spread the word for its recently launched Bing search engine decision engine, Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) decided to spice things up among the mobile users and offer them free ringtones for their handsets. The so called BingTones are readily available in MP3 format and can be used on any compatible device, Windows Mobile-based smartphones included.

It’s a 630KB heavy download that should at least help you love Bing even more, or at least the Redmond giant hopes so. Here’s a link to Microsoft’s website from where you can grab the file, and eventually use some BingTone on your phone.

[Via: textually.org]

Sure, there’s a recession out there, but that doesn’t mean some segments of the market won’t grow. As a matter of fact, Juniper Research argues that revenues from streamed mobile music services and full-track downloads are expected to exhibit strong growth over the next five years. To put this into numbers, combined revenues from these two type of services are set to increase from $2.5 billion in 2009, to nearly $5.5 billion in 2013.

Among the factors that will drive the uptake are greater variety of applications and content, all-inclusive data packages, easier to use UIs, and an increase in handset storage capacity.

On the other side, Juniper said that those music services which rely on advertising are set to experience a shortfall in revenues, following a global reduction in advertising budgets. Under the worst case scenario, the research company says that ad spend could reach just 50% of pre-downturn estimates.

Read the full article »

Next in line to join the iPhone wave is the People magazine. Of course they released a dedicated application called PEOPLE Celebrity News Tracker in the AppStore, allowing its readers to keep up with “latest and greatest” on the celebrity scene, while on the go.

The app delivers up-to-the-minute breaking news and photos directly from the magazine’s reporting bureaus across the country. Moreover, there’s the “Top 5 Stories” feature for those not obsessed with the lives of celebrities, but just want to occasionally read what’s going on in the world of red carpets…

Final word. For some reason, PEOPLE doesn’t follow the example of other magazines and tries to sell its iPhone app, rather than subsidize it with ads. Their application costs $1.99 and is therefor more suited for hard-core celebrity tracking fans. AppStore link is here…

[Via: textually.org]

Handmark, the company which we know for its Pocket Express application/service, announced Express News, a free mobile news application for Android-based phones.

App’s key features include:

• Eight languages supported: English, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Finnish and Swedish;
• More than 300 news feeds from trusted sources around the world, including AP, Canadian Press, and AFP;
• Fully customizable news feeds;
• Intuitive UI with “swift touchscreen navigation”;
• Up-to-the-minute headlines with full stories and corresponding photos;
• Ability to cache news stories for offline reading at any time;
• Share feature – users can text or email news stories to others.

Interested? Express News is available as a free application through the Android Market.

We knew it will be opened during this week and now we have the official press release! Nokia’s Ovi Store has opened its virtual doors to everyone understanding any of the following languages: English, German, Italian, Russian, and Spanish! More than 50 Nokia (NYSE: NOK) devices are supported at launch, and users can buys apps and mobile content either using their credit cards or through operator billing option, which is available in Australia, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Russia, Singapore, Spain and the United Kingdom.

Additional countries, languages, devices and features will be added throughout the year — and (this one’s for our U.S.-based readers) AT&T (NYSE: T) is on board, planing to make Ovi Store available to its customers later in the year!

We’ve no numbers to report, but one of the earlier rumors suggested that Ovi Store will launch with about 20,000 items, most of which include mobile content. As soon as we hear something new, we’ll let you know. Stay tuned…

Carlos Santana doesn’t want to miss the boat, hence he (along with his marketing team) is launching an iPhone app, which is touted as a “comprehensive mobile gateway into the colorful and inspiring universe” of the famous guitarist.

As for the application features, users will find:

• Video lessons in which Carlos Santana demonstrates the guitar technique he used in the classic hits “Black Magic Woman” and “Oye Como Va”;
• Sampling of Santana’s most popular videos, plus live clips and behind-the-scenes tour footage;
• Santana discography.

It’s also interested to read what Carlos thinks about its iPhone application: “I was the guy who went from the smoke signals and the mirrors… straight into the iPhone, so I have no concept of computers. I was still with cassettes. And so it fascinates me just how much the human imagination has gone into making things accessible… I’m eager to ride that.”

Msnbc.com and Zumobi launched The Rachel Maddow Show application for the iPhone and iPod touch, offering consumers a “new way to enjoy Maddow’s smart look at politics, pop culture and current events.” The free application, features videos and photos — including popular segments “Rachel Re:” and “Ms. Information” — and also allows consumers to access and respond to Rachel’s Twitter updates.

Commenting on the announcement, Zumobi’s CEO Ken Willner said: “The Rachel Maddow Show application brings current events, political commentary and other topical stories to a very loyal audience in a highly engaging way. We are pleased to add Rachel Maddow to The Zumobi Network, giving her viewers a great new way to enjoy her unique and popular show on iPhone and iPod touch.”

Interested? AppStore link is here. As I mentioned, it’s a free app, so there’s no reason not to try it out, especially if you dig Rachel’s comments.