It looks like the New York Times is looking out for their mobile consumer base by extending the features and reach of their iPad app, Editors’ Choice. It will include a lot more content, streaming news, and other enticements to get users to join in—and, for the moment, it’s free. However, that will probably change after the honeymoon period.

Sounds like a smart move to me, get the users hooked and then make them pay for it. After all, the New York Times needs its revenue and the iPad mobile market wouldn’t mind more apps in its ecology.

This exclusive scoop is brought to us by paidContent.org in an extensive article,

First take: It’s about time. That’s the initial reaction of someone used to the NYT’s limited Editors Choice app. Aside from the breadth of the number of stories and sections, which alone constitutes a vast improvement over the old version of the app, the presentation is noticeably better. The sections list is clearly found at the bottom left of each of the 19 news categories on a given day. Unlike Editors’ Choice, each section contains at least five “pages” of article abstracts. The articles themselves make it quick to get into and out of, thanks to a navigation bar that lets you swipe through other posts within a section.

Overall, this is the ideal culmination of all the various digital offerings the NYT has been working on the past few years, such as the Adobe (NSDQ: ADBE) Air-based Times Reader PC app and the largely under-appreciated Twitter-like Times Wire

It’s unknown how much the app will cost monthly when it finally comes to pay the piper, but the Kindle app runs about $20/mo. That might give some clues as to what might govern the full app access subscription. According to the article writer, if the prices happen to be similar they believe the iPad app will win hands-down on the content and delivery department.

Also no news on when the free subscription will end, but it will probably last long enough for people to compare Kindle and decide how they’re going to go when it comes down.  Other print media publications looking to the digital realm for marketing and ad sales include USA Today, and a number with free subscriptions.  It’s certainly a growing trend, and the New York Times has been quick to adopt several Apple distribution options across the iPhone and iPad.