iPad Who? Five Publishers Join Forces to Offer Magazine Subscriptions on Android

Apple has begun to win over magazine publishers, a handful of which have started to offer subscriptions to their publications on the iPad. But publishers aren't solely focused on iOS, and five of them have teamed up in a consortium called Next Issue Media to peddle magazines on tablets running on Google's Android platform.

The digital newsstand, which All Things D's Peter Kafka refers to as the "Hulu for magazines," comprises Time, Inc., Hearst, Conde Nast, Meredith, and News Corp. Called an "early preview," this initial offering allows readers to either subscribe or buy single issues to Fortune and Time from Time, Inc.; the New Yorker from Conde Nast; Fitness and Parents from Meredith; and Esquire and Popular Mechanics from Hearst. News Corp doesn't publish any magazines, but in February, when the company launched its iPad-exclusive newspaper, The Daily, CEO Rupert Murdoch hinted that the publication would eventually be available on other platforms, so it's possible that it would be sold through Next Issue in the future.

For now, Next Issue Media is only available on the Samsung Galaxy Tab, but CEO Morgan Guenther told Kafka that the service will be offered on additional devices by the end of the year. Guenther also said the company will have a webOS app and will be selling at least 40 magazines within that same time frame.

Publishers have much more control over the sale of their titles through Next Issue Media than they do through Apple's App Store. Not only do they get to set the price, but Guenther said they will get "at least" 70 percent of sales, with the remaining 30 percent split between device makers and the collective. It's an advantage of this new platform, considering the iPad model allows publishers 70 percent of revenue, with Apple keeping 30 percent for itself.

Perhaps most importantly, Next Issue Media gives publishers full access to subscribers' personal data, including their credit card information. By contrast, on the iPad, opportunities for publishers to get this kind of information are scant at best.

Hearst and Conde Nastwere the first publishers to announce plans to offer iPad magazine subscriptions, nearly three months after Apple unveiled the subscription plan. Publishers were reluctant to jump on board; most felt that Apple's terms weren't in their favor.

It hasn't been confirmed, but it's rumored that Hearst and Conde were able to get Apple to budge slightly on the terms. While Apple still controls most of subscribers' information, Conde Nast is permitted to get their names, email addresses, and Zip codes. Publishers also now have two opportunities to get a reader's email, first on the opt-in screen and later on a page that asks for email addresses in order to access exclusive content.

The concession might be small, but it seems to be working out for publishers, with 50 percent of readers opting to share their information with publishers.

Time, Inc. is the last of the top three publishers holding out on iOS. It recently announced that iPad versions of Time, Sports Illustrated, and Fortune are now free on the iPad to print subscribers, but it has made no indication that it will offer standalone iPad subscriptions any time soon.

Next Issue Media will also give existing print subscribers access to the digital editions for some of its magazines, but it doesn't yet have an option for digital/print bundles for new subscribers.

Subscriptions through Next Issue range in price from $1.99-$5.99 a month and from $2.99-$4.99 per issue.

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Time Inc., Apple allow magazine subscribers to access iPad versions for free

The publishing world’s migration to the iPad continued this week with Time Inc., the largest magazine publisher, reaching a deal with Apple to release free versions of its magazines to print subscribers, reports the Wall Street Journal. The agreement could signal that a compromise has been reached between Apple and disgruntled publishers, who have called the gadget company’s subscription policy unfair and overbearing.

As of this week, subscribers to Sports Illustrated, Time and Fortune magazines can access the publications on the iPad through the magazine apps at no charge. To do so, they will have to authenticate their subscription when they use the app. Before the deal, subscribers to these publications had to pay for access to the iPad versions. Subscribers to People magazine, another Time Inc. title, already had free iPad version access.

The deal could have far-reaching implications for publishers looking to release their content through Apple’s popular tablet. By offering the iPad versions for free, Time has effectively surpassed Apple and its 30 percent charge on every subscription fee garnered through the App Store. Time has also denied Apple valuable customer data, which will now be collected exclusively by Time, rather than Apple.

Before now, Apple hasn’t allowed publishers to bundle their print and iPad version subscriptions. The tight restrictions imposed by Apple led the Federal Trade Commission to launch an anticompetitive investigation into its subscription policy in February.

Despite the complaints about Apple’s policy, the publishers of magazines like Maxim, Elle and Popular Science all signed on to the controversial plan soon after its unveiling.

Time’s decision to make its iPad magazines free comes at a time when the company is expected to report flat revenue for the first quarter of 2011. And Time isn’t the only one; the magazine industry as a whole is struggling, with already-deflated advertising revenue expected to fall another 1-2 percent further over each of the next two years. Whether or not free iPad access can help Time increase its reader base — and thus, its advertising revenue — remains a shot in the dark.

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View the iPad as a magazine opportunity, not a container - Matthew Carlson on what iPad magazine publishers can do to ...

by Jenn Webb |?@JennWebb |?Comments: 12 |?25 April 2011

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As more magazines take advantage of the iPad's popularity, one thing thus far has been clear: most publishers are simply reproducing their print products on the digital screen.

In a recent interview, Matthew Carlson, principal of experience strategy and design at Hot Studio Inc., said established magazines are thus far missing the boat by producing iPad editions weighed down by bloated files, slow downloads and locked content:

Magazines have traditionally thought of themselves as kind of a locked book, of a complete, discreet object. Ideally, something that is going to be really interactive or live out on the web needs to be more like an open book — like if you took the cover of the magazine and turned it outside in so that people could discover and access the stories more effectively.

A screenshot from the Flipboard iPad app.

Who's doing it right? Carlson pointed toward a trio of companies that wouldn't be counted among traditional publishers:

The magazines that are doing the best job right now wouldn't be considered traditional magazines at all. Flipboard, Reeder, Zite — these things are really more like glorified feed readers. Or feed readers that create a beautiful presentation layer. These magazines do a good job of bringing the type of interaction digital media consumers expect. I don't think many mainstream magazines have quite reached that level of interactivity.

For more on how iPad magazines can do a better job of engaging readers and how best to design and build a magazine for tablets, check out the entire interview in the following video:

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