{"id":30452,"date":"2009-10-21T13:00:56","date_gmt":"2009-10-21T17:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theappleblog.com\/?p=34617"},"modified":"2009-10-21T13:00:56","modified_gmt":"2009-10-21T17:00:56","slug":"conde-nast-brings-titles-to-iphone-keeps-eyes-on-the-itablet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/30452","title":{"rendered":"Cond\u00e9 Nast Brings Titles to iPhone, Keeps Eyes On the iTablet"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Newspapers and magazines — the entire news print industry to be honest — have been suffering a long and torturous decline for much of the last decade as more of us turn to the Internet and electronic devices to get (increasingly personalized) news and other content. While publishers have generally been slow to adapt to shifting delivery platforms, change is — finally — afoot. Publishing supergiant Cond\u00e9 Nast is now taking its first tentative steps to embracing the digital realm with a series of iPhone apps designed to deliver its most popular titles electronically.<\/p>\n

Adage<\/a> reports that the first title will be GQ magazine, released this December in the app store and priced at $2.99 (the regular print edition of the magazine costs as much as $4.99).<\/p>\n

Adage\u2019s Nat Ives writes:<\/p>\n

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The new app platform could help the company squeeze circulation and real ad revenue from digital. Because the apps will include all the editorial and ads that the print editions do, the Audit Bureau of Circulations will consider the apps to be paid circulation just like newsstand sales and subscriber copies. That’s important because advertisers only want to pay for ad space in issues that the audit bureau defines as paid.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

So the digital edition of GQ will be identical to its dead-tree counterpart, but cost appreciably less. It might also offer compelling extra content and rich media at (and this is so very<\/em> important to publishers) little-to-no extra cost. After all, an embedded video is an impossibility in a printed magazine, and a digital edition offers unlimited<\/em> virtual column-inches for expanded editorial.<\/p>\n

Cond\u00e9 hasn’t completely abandoned its old methods for generating profits. Indeed, it’s relying on the fact its digital issues will be counted as paid editions because print ads command higher rates than online ads. <\/span><\/p>\n

Size Matters<\/h3>\n

So, will you buy GQ on your iPhone? I suspect there won\u2019t be too many people who do. Seasoned iPhone users are keenly aware that the device\u2019s form factor makes for a dissatisfying reading experience of even modest duration. The iPhone is hardly the most comfortable platform for reading anything more than email. Sure, apps like Stanza and Instapaper make reading on the iPhone far more fluid and tolerable than, say, reading lengthy web pages in Safari. But they can\u2019t change the fact that you\u2019re still peering at tiny text on a 3.5 inch screen. Only the most dedicated of readers will suffer such eye-strain-inducing limitations, all the while dreaming of something just as light, just as thin, but much larger. Y\u2019know\u2026 a tablet.<\/p>\n

This is something Cond\u00e9 Nast understands very well. Its upcoming app isn\u2019t about bringing its various print publications to the iPhone — it\u2019s about the timely positioning of its product to take advantage of the upcoming tablet.<\/p>\n

Says Sarah Chubb, President of Cond\u00e9 Nast Digital:<\/p>\n

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This iPhone is just one platform. We plan to be, and generally try to be, anywhere our consumers are.<\/p>\n

We think that the minute Apple is ready, if they ever are, to announce that they\u2019re going forward with a tablet, that we\u2019ll be ahead of everybody.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I can\u2019t say I\u2019m a GQ reader, but that\u2019s not meant as a judgement against that particular title. I just don\u2019t buy newspapers or magazines. Practically no one I know my age (or younger) does. It\u2019s not hard to see why; these days, most people enjoy regular, inexpensive access to the Internet. Services like Twitter and RSS feeds ensure we get only the news and content we want<\/em> to read, when<\/em> we want to read it — and what\u2019s more, it\u2019s usually free.<\/p>\n

$2.99 is too much for a magazine that exists only as pixels on a (small) screen. 99 cents seems far more appealing and most likely would shift more (virtual) copies. It\u2019s more appropriate, too, since the traditional resource, print and distribution costs associated with a dead-tree publication don\u2019t apply in the digital realm. Perhaps when Cond\u00e9 Nast\u2019s printed magazines have finally gone the way of the Dodo, its digital issues will hit that magic sub-dollar price.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, I\u2019m excited Cond\u00e9 is\u00a0doing this. No, not because I\u2019m about to start buying GQ. I\u2019m excited because I know it\u2019s only a matter of time before other big print titles start appearing on digital devices. (And not just watered-down content portals like the\u00a0New York Times<\/a>.) It\u2019s already happening, albeit quietly, behind closed doors. A few months ago word got out<\/a> that Time was in talks with other publishers, collaborating on e-reader standards. Around the same time, it was reported<\/a> Apple was negotiating content deals with several media companies \u201crooted in print.\u201d And while we\u2019re still waiting for Apple\u2019s tablet to arrive, e-readers are cropping<\/a> up<\/a> all<\/a> over<\/a> the<\/a> place<\/a>, jostling for a position in what is sure to become a massive new market.<\/p>\n

Print is dead. But, at long last, Digital Print is here to replace it, and it\u2019s just around the corner. That\u2019s welcome news for an ailing publishing industry finally<\/em> starting to take electronic platforms seriously.<\/p>\n

Tell us in the comments if the new age of digital publishing is going to get you reading newspapers, and whether you think Apple\u2019s gonna object to some of GQ\u2019s more, um, \u201cadult\u201d front covers!<\/p>\n

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\nGrowing mobile data use turned up heat on carriers in Q3. Read the, “Mobile Q3 Wrap-up<\/a><\/strong>.”<\/p>\n