iPhone apps as magazines – Conde Nast has the right idea
By Will Park on Thursday, October 22nd, 2009 at 4:24 PM PST In Announcements, Apple, Applications, iPhone, iPhone OS
Print publications are losing customers to web-savvy consumers who are increasingly getting their information fix online or otherwise electronically. Conde Nast has been sticking to its print-is-better mantra, forcing it to close some big-name publications. But, the publisher might have a solution to tap into the lucrative digital market. Conde Nast will soon offer individual copies of men’s lifestyle mag GQ in the iTunes AppStore. Single issues of GQ will be available for $2.99 on the iPhone AppStore, starting with the December issue.
The new iPhone app-as-mag model not only saves trees, it should bring the reader a media-rich magazine experience that no print magazine could ever deliver. Each monthly installment will be offered in a stand-alone iPhone app that features mobile-optimized content, audio, video and even links to advertisers’ websites. The reader never has to leave the app to fully explore the magazine and its interactive content.
Conde Nast plans to bring that enhanced magazine experience to other mobile platforms as well – so we might soon see the Android Market and Windows Marketplace boasting magazine issues. “This iPhone is just one platform,” said Sarah Chubb, president of Conde Nast Digital. “We plan to be, and generally try to be, anywhere our consumers are.”
Would you pay $2.99 for an iPhone app version of the latest GQ magazine? We certainly will.
But they should continue the magazine metaphor: it should be available as a subscription (discounted off the per-issue “newstand” price) and should arrive (pushed) in my “mailbox” every month.