Its a question many have been asking ever since Jobs got up on stage and announced the device in January. With its large screen and ease of use the iPad seems like a perfect platform for the paperless magazine. Magazines which have a greater, richer experience than those you can buy in the shops.
Today, @AppleInsider is reporting that the Apple iPad may not be the ‘savior’ platform that some publishers were originally hoping for.
GQ, the world renown style and entertainment magazine, which has been sat on the store since December 18th 2009 but only recently got an update which added support for the iPad, has today announced it had sold just 365 copies of the digital magazine. In fact, Pete Hunsinger, vice president and publisher of GQ said the “Men of the Year” issue of the interactive magazine earned the company just $1,091.35 in total sales, in December of last year.
Priced at $2.99, the magazine offers readers a more immersive, digital experience than that of the paperback version which sells for $4.99, including the use of videos, photos and more. Each issue afterward is then available via an in-app purchase, costing just $1.99 each.
The company however says that low sales figures shouldn’t be cause for concern, stating that the cost to make and maintain the digital version doesn’t exceed the cost of publishing and printing the paperback version:
“The iPad brings added value to advertisers. This costs us nothing extra, no printing or postage. Everything is profit, and I look forward to the time when iPad issue sales become a major component to our circulation.”
[via @AppleInsider]
Leave a Reply