The Daily Mirror today becomes the first major UK national daily newspaper to give away its iPad edition for free.
The iPad edition will be available for free from Monday-Friday but the Saturday edition and the Sunday Mirror will only be available in print at the weekends.
The Daily Record is also pursuing the same strategy and it launching its own free iPad app today.
A seven-day edition will be available for international readers at a cost of £4.99 a month.
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The Mirror’s strategy is a departure from the rest of Fleet Street, including its tabloid rivals The Sun and Daily Star,
The Sun and Star both charge readers £4.99 a month for access to their tablet editions, while Mail Online charges £2.39.
The Mirror app is an exact digital replica of the print edition but with added interactive content including video reports, expandable articles, interactive ads and a live news ticker.
Readers will also get a choice of 10 regional editions.
Lloyd Embley, editor-in-chief of the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and The People, said: “This is everything you’d expect from the Mirror and more. Visually it looks stunning and the interactivity brings a whole new depth to our content.
"The e-edition is brimming with the energy and creativity that will extend the reach of our journalism to new and wider audiences.”
Martin Newman, editor of the Mirror’s e-edition app, said: “The world of media is changing at an incredible speed and it’s up to newspapers to keep up with that change and deliver news in the format that our readers want it.
“Over the past decade that has led us to put more and more focus on the internet, and now we are addressing the boom in the tablet computer market.
“Last year the tablet market in the UK grew by 300 per cent, with about 2.8percent of the population now owning one. That rate of growth is set to increase.
“About 60million iPads were sold worldwide this year and the projected number next year is 96million, with 122million likely to be sold in 2014. Add to that the Android market and by 2016 we’re likely to see total tablet sales of 350million.
“We are going to see the same percentage increases in the UK, which is really taking tablet computers to its heart.”
Here’s what the other Fleet Street titles charge for their iPad editions:
The Sun
£4.99 a month
Daily Star
7 days – £1.49 for,
One month: $4.99
Three months: £13.99
Six months: £25.99
One year: £49.99
Mail Online
One month – £2.39
Three months – £6.49
Six months – £10.99
One year – £19.99
Daily and Sunday Express
One week – £2.49
One month – £6.99
Three months – £18.99
Six months £34.99
One year: £63.99
i
7 days – £1.49
1 month – £4.99
3 months – £12.99
12 months – £44.99
The Independent:
£9.99 per month
Guardian
£9.99 per month
The Times
£4 per week to subscribe to its digital pack including access to its pay-walled website and smartphone app.
Daily Telegraph
£9.99 per month to subscribe to its digital app, including smartphone access
FT.com
£39.99 per month to subscribe to its digital pack including access to its pay-walled websited and smartphone app.
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