Condé Nast to begin in-app iPad subscriptions next week - rumor

Posted:
in iPad edited January 2014
A new report claims that publishing giant Condé Nast will begin offering in-app subscriptions for Apple's iPad as early as next week.



The New York Post reports that Condé Nast will start offering an in-app subscription option for select publications as early as next week. According to the report, The New Yorker will be the first publication to make the transition.



By the end of May, Condé Nast will add the subscription feature to the seven other iPad editions of its magazines, which include Wired, Golf Digest, Glamour, Vanity Fair, Self, Allure and GQ. Annual subscriptions will cost $19.99, according to the report.



In addition, the single-issue price for the iPad version of the New Yorker, GQ, Glamour and Wired will see a price reduction to $1.99 from previous prices ranging from $3.99-$4.99.



Condé's alleged adoption of Apple's in-app subscriptions runs against the grain of an earlier report from Ad Age that claimed the publisher was "tapping the brakes" on the iPad editions of its print magazines. Several of the company's major titles have yet to make their way onto the iPad, though the company reportedly plans to launch many of them in coming months.







Last year, the magazine publisher rushed to release an iPad app for Wired magazine. The app got off to a great start, selling 100,000 copies in the first month, but sales began to drop off late last year.



The news comes closely on the heels of reports that Hearst will initiate in-app iPad subscription services. Hearst announced on Wednesday that three of its magazines: Esquire, Popular Mechanics and O, The Oprah Magazine, will feature in-app subscriptions starting in July.



Time Inc., the largest magazine publisher in the U.S., has yet to reach a deal for in-app subscriptions, though it did begin offering free iPad editions to print subscribers of several of its flagship publications earlier this week.



Though Apple unveiled the new in-app subscription feature in February, publishers expressed concern over Apple's 30 percent cut and provisions that made the practice of forwarding subscriber data to publishers opt-in rather than default.



Publishers have slowly begun climbing on board. Last month, Bloomberg said it was "pleased with Apple's terms" and began offering a $2.99 monthly subscription to its BusinessWeek app.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 11
    jozsoojozsoo Posts: 39member
    And here's hoping that this will work internationally, not just in the U S of A. Can't wait to read the full New Yorker on my iPad!
  • Reply 2 of 11
    applesauce007applesauce007 Posts: 1,698member
    Boom! Another big one in the bag. Condé Nast is big and international.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Condé_Nast_Publications

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advance_Publications



    iOS It's the place to be. Nothing comes close to the rich multimedia on the iOS platform. All iOS needs now is a richer and more versatile cloud to manage all this media.



    We'll soon see the copy cats will start to copy Apple's model and get sued. Time will tell.
  • Reply 3 of 11
    christopher126christopher126 Posts: 4,366member
    I hope for the sake of the publishers, iPad subscriptions take off. I agree the iPad is fantastic and if it doesn't take off on the iPad...it ain't going to work digitally at all!



    I just don't think the $20 annual price is the sweet spot. Perhaps, $12 per year is. Or perhaps Apple would offer 2 magazines (of your choice) for $20 per year.





    Anyway, again, here's hoping it becomes popular and saves the trees and water used to produce paper editions! Best
  • Reply 4 of 11
    ddawson100ddawson100 Posts: 513member
    Sounds like everyone is starting to get along well. Whew. It did seem like everyone was at loggerheads for a while. Apple really gets it right with hardware, software, app commissions and even reinventing the subscriptions business. There have been some offerings that didn't make it but the track record is just remarkable.
  • Reply 5 of 11
    avpubavpub Posts: 6member
    If this works in Canada, sign me up for Vanity Fair!
  • Reply 6 of 11
    nvidia2008nvidia2008 Posts: 9,262member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by ddawson100 View Post


    Sounds like everyone is starting to get along well. Whew. It did seem like everyone was at loggerheads for a while. Apple really gets it right with hardware, software, app commissions and even reinventing the subscriptions business. There have been some offerings that didn't make it but the track record is just remarkable.



    No..! Walled Garden! Restrictions! Closed source! Greedy Apple taking their 30% cut! Censorship! Publishers, movie, TV and music companies defecting from the iOS proprietary ecosystem! Wait, wha?
  • Reply 7 of 11
    eye forgeteye forget Posts: 154member
    "We're sorry.

    This player is not enabled for HTML5 delivery."



    A Conde Nast publication.



    Not withstanding the fact I have yet to see a single magazine transfer well to the iPad, Conde Nast sites are riddled with iPad issues than should/could have been solved ages ago.
  • Reply 8 of 11
    pnoblepnoble Posts: 9member
    $19.95 for a year's weekly subscription to the New Yorker is more than fair and it will sell like hotcakes. Even to those currently with a print subscription if they charge extra for it. The fact that they were able to consistently sell a modest number of weekly copies at $4.99 including to those with current print subscriptions points to the demographics of their readership. And the very high proportion, I'm sure, owning iPads.



    But few companies in history have so effectively pissed off so many loyal customers so quickly as Conde Nast surely did with their previous approach to iOS. They were absolute idiots to use their customers to make a point with Apple. It surely backfired on them. I'm sure I'm in the vast majority losing all respect for Conde Nast while maintaining my full respect for Apple.



    And the irony is that Conde Nast had made a significant, early and very well reviewed commitment to porting most of their titles over to iOS.



    But to quote the great bard: "All's well that (hopefully) ends well"!
  • Reply 9 of 11
    michael scripmichael scrip Posts: 1,916member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by pnoble View Post


    $19.95 for a year's weekly subscription to the New Yorker is more than fair and it will sell like hotcakes.



    Currently... a 47 issue subscription to the New Yorker is $70. I don't think the New Yorker will be one of the $19.99 subscriptions.





    Wired, GQ and the other monthly magazines will be that price.
  • Reply 10 of 11
    lowededwookielowededwookie Posts: 1,143member
    Pity all their magazine apps suck balls.



    They are so bad that you're just far better off going to the bookstore and reading those instead.



    Conde Nast just proves time and time again they know nothing about UI design and are nothing but a bunch of graphics artists.



    If this is the future of magazines then the magazine world is in serious trouble.
  • Reply 11 of 11
    jozsoojozsoo Posts: 39member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Michael Scrip View Post


    Currently... a 47 issue subscription to the New Yorker is $70. I don't think the New Yorker will be one of the $19.99 subscriptions.



    You were right. The New Yorker iPad edition is now available for 45 Euros a year -- still a sweet deal! Going with the monthly plan, though, at 5 Euros a pop.
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