NY Post blocks Web site for iPad users

The New York Post is now blocking iPad owners from accessing its Web site through mobile Safari, trying to instead force them to download and use the paper's own iPad app.

iPad-owning New Yorkers looking for their daily Post fix online will see nothing but a message directing them to download the paper's $1.99 iPad app where after 30 days of free access they must pay for a monthly or annual subscription to read the content--$6.99 for one month, $39.99 for six months, or $74.99 for a year.

But the block seems limited just to mobile Safari on the iPad. iPad owners can still access the Post's content through alternative browsers, such as Opera Mini and Terra. iPhone and iPod Touch users can also still access the Post's content through any mobile browser, including Safari.

The new move has already stirred up jeers among online critics. Staci Kramer, an editor at digital-media news site PaidContent, called it "one of the most poorly conceived paywall efforts I've come across" and said it had also broken access to the site from the Post's Facebook page, instead presenting iPad users with the same redirect message.

Dave Winer, who blogs via Scripting News, said the move breaks the Web. "If no one used the iPad it wouldn't matter. But lots of people use it." Winer also said he doesn't imagine Apple likes the move.

The Post did not immediately return CNET's request for comment.