Readers can’t pay by the story or buy a daypass or any of those options folks like Steve Brill and Gordon Crovitz dangle as possible moneymakers. No way to get full access as a print subscriber, even with an added fee. Without a digital subscription offering, that means the only way to read the full magazine electronically is pay $4.99 a week for the single-copy iPad edition. (Unfortunately, you can still get the full text of Joel Stein’s astonishingly tone-deaf piece on Edison, NJ as Little India.) They can, however, buy the cover

The abridged concept make me think of that condensed version of Gone With the Wind that left out two of Scarlett’s children or those Readers Digest editions that gave people bragging rights about reading a book without actually getting through the whole thing. Granted, it’s better than stories that stop in mid-air after a few sentences but just barely. As someone who was once involved in Time‘s painstaking editorial process with numerous weekends interrupted by discussions over the right wording, it’s hard to imagine articles being deconstructed for online promotion instead of reading.

One of the oddities of the abridged stories are the way they’re used to pitch web exclusives that are meant to flesh out the magazine story. In most cases, that will mean you can see the extras but not the story they are designed to supplement.

On the business side, for now the decision limits digital pay access to a very select group. yes, Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) has sold an astonishing three million-plus iPads in an incredibly short time. I don’t have current specifics on where Time app downloads fit in but I find it hard to imagine more than a very small percent buy the weekly digital editions. Abridging is easier than a full paywall technologically so less expensive but selling Time covers offering people to buy the cover without a way to buy the cover story makes little sense. (That’s if you accept the idea that any of it makes sense at this point.)

Not a surprise: This isn’t a bolt from the blue or a sudden shift in strategy. As Time Inc. spokeswoman Dawn Bridge explains: “We’ve said for awhile that we’re planning on moving much of the content available in the print version (and now iPad version) of our titles off of the web.” She said they don’t call it a “content wall.” Peopleis already very limited and SI will go that way for current issues. Some articles from Time will be available and, as another PR person points out, the magazine accounts for a very small percentage of Time.com’s content. In addition to the other original content on the site, Time.com recently launched Newsfeed with 20-30 original posts a day.

It’s also just a step in Time Inc.‘s digital strategy. The Time Warner unit is working on a subscription scheme for iPad—the SI iPad app was supposed to launch last month with it but that was delayed. There’s also expansion to other devices and schemes—and, possibly, a newsstand option through Next Issue Media if that ever really gets off the ground.