Wired Launches iPad Magazine App with Help from Adobe

[Otaviano]

I find it pretty funny how Adobe tried to get a head start and made a deal with Conde Nast to built their e-mag apps before the iPad was announced and then was forced to rewrite their Flash based app when they realized they had to deliver something to Conde Nast.

 

[MarcelV]

I've been in print publishing for 25+ years; ~90% of the cost of publishing is printing, paper and distribution. With digital media, all of that is gone. If a publisher's print media is $5 per issue, then it should be $0.50 per issue for digital.

You are so wrong. Expenses are in travel, salaries, design of new concepts/prototyping i.e. content creation. Correct that distribution takes a certain larger percentage, but that's a minimal cost for the publisher, it's often paid by the distributor. The publisher gets a wholesale amount, not the retail amount.

You are off the mark on this.

 

[sishaw]

I'm not one to complain about app prices, but it does seem strange they are charging for it. I mean it has a bunch of ads in it as well. You'd think they'd go for a larger readership.

arn

I wish one of these iPad publications would have a yearly subscription deal that rivals the regular paper magazine subscriptions. I get the paper Wired for $30/year, at $5/issue I'd only get 6 months of iPad Wired for the same price. It makes no sense, and certainly won't wean subscribers off of the paper version. I would, however, pay the same as paper subscription to go fully electronic, as long as I could also retain access to archives of past articles, or alternatively have an option to clip articles I want to save.

 

[JediZenMaster]

I Like the wired app and i don't care if it's 4.99. Some people need to realize that everything can't be free and that this is a new uncharted world for publishers and it's going to take time.

Now granted the price could be a little lower but to expect it to be free is crazy.

 

[swarmster]

1 year of Wired on Amazon: $10

This is the best e-magazine I've seen yet and I would gladly pay as much as $20 for a "Wired 2010" app that updated with a new issue every month. And I'd pay it again in 2011, 2012, etc.

$60? For who knows what kind of issue management (ability to delete/re-download issues to save space, stored all in one app)? No thanks.

 

[MarcelV]

iBookStore

Does anyone know why Apple didn't include a magazine section in their iBookStore? Subscription as well as individual sale would be possible, great user experience, and would set them apart.

There wouldn't be a need any longer for an app for every magazine, and it would be a very focused market. Just like the shelves at the bookstore or grocery store.

 

[clayj]

As someone who owns every single issue of Wired ever published, I will not be shelling out $4.99 a month for a magazine that I'm already paying to get in hardcopy. They should offer a free download of the app to anyone who subscribes to the magazine, as I do.

That said, it does look pretty cool. Not sure about the 500 MB/month size, though.

 

[Cydonia]

Can't view video - FAIL

Unbelievable ! Simple speechless that the demo video can't be viewed on iProducts! It is available to view on YouTube.

Looks cool but it's the same game; pay the same price as the physical media? I guess the DVD / Music CDs get away with it so why not them.
I could be talking bollicks but I would have thought it is cheaper to produce and supply DVD/CD/MAGS electronically/ digitally via the web? It must be for printed monthly media, if they don't sell all copies then the're returned by the shop/news stand? Maybe they demand/ supply is well calculated therefore they just don't care? Anyone know?

 

[sebgreen]

I just bought a yearly subscriptoin!

AHHHHH

I just bought a yearly subscription to the magazine! DAMN!


Hopefully getting an iPad on Friday. £3.50 a pop is more money that the actually paper mag costs. A subscription works out a £2 an issue.

How annoying

 

[rlmccormick]

I'm not one to complain about app prices, but it does seem strange they are charging for it. I mean it has a bunch of ads in it as well. You'd think they'd go for a larger readership.

arn

The price makes it a big no for me. Wired in hard copy is at least 50% advertising. You can typically get a 1 year subscription for less than a dollar a month for that reason.

 

[SBlue1]

I can think of few magazines worth $4.99 -- in paper, plastic, engraved metal, suede, or electronic form.

most of the monthly magazines i buy regularly are around 5 euros:

Guitar Magazine € 5,50
National Geographic € 4,80
Geo Epoche € 8,00
Spiegel, a weekly mag is € 3,80

i can read free news at the spiegel website, and i have a widget for the spiegel news, but i still buy the paper version from time to time. its all about if it is worth to me to have that little bit extra and how much i am willing to pay.

so i dont get all the buzz about the expencive app. eather i buy it if i like it or not. all these magazines have ads in there. so what, you still pay at the newsstand.

as a publisher you allways have to manage the ballance of income by advertising and by people buying your papers. you can make a magazine cheaper and getting more people to see the ads that way. you will earn more because you can sell more ads. but there is a line where beeing too cheap will make you loose money at the newspaper-stand while not making it up with even more ad sales.

 

[kingtj]

re: free iPad?

Yeah... and it's *so* realistic to expect a magazine publisher who was formerly content to charge you $10/year for a printed subscription to fork out $500+ to provide you with a FREE iPad, just so they can HOPE you go with a digital subscription with them after that!?

The truth is though, there's got to be some kind of "in between" here. Maybe they could offer subscribers the ability to buy an iPad through them in several installment payments? But I think the hardware is the least of the issue. iPads are selling so well right now, Apple can't seem to build them fast enough.... The problem is that people can't justify paying several times MORE per issue for digital than for paper, mailed to their door.

This is starting to frustrate me now.

In the UK, as I'm sure elsewhere, if you subscribe to a mobile plan, a TV subscription, a broadband connection - you get the hardware to consume that content for free - be it a mobile phone, a satellite dish, a modem/laptop.

Why are magazines/newspapers/books etc think that they are in some privileged position to bleed me of all my money, only to show me more adverts? This is just counter intuitive and an insult to customers.

I have a subscription to both GQ and Wired. I pay them a monthly fee for good writing, articles and photography. I don't pay them for delivery, glossy paper and the mountain of junk mail - but I understand that that's what the best method is.

Why now, as a subscriber, am I expected to pay for the means of delivery, AS WELL AS pay again for the same content, albiet with some moving images.

Conde Nast have an opportunity to totally corner the magazine market while slash their delivery costs. They should be writing me to me saying "Hi, here's a choice for you. You can continue to receive your magazine subscription via post as normal - or we'll send you an iPad for free and you can move to our digital subscription. Or pay £2 extra for postage and get both. Your call".

Instead I get - "Hey, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE drop 500 notes on a delivery device so we can charge you twice for the same content, expose you to more of other magazines, show you more adverts and make you pay double. You have to, because, like, we're all in trouble if you don't."

This is just rude in my eyes, an insult to long term subscribers and a backwards business model.

f

 

[lbjsong]

This is Awesome!!
if this thing happens on the TIME magazine, I will be holding iPad pretty soon

 

[OneEyedSpaniel]

I Like the wired app and i don't care if it's 4.99. Some people need to realize that everything can't be free and that this is a new uncharted world for publishers and it's going to take time.

Now granted the price could be a little lower but to expect it to be free is crazy.

Now here is someone who has it right Kudos to JediZenMaster. I went into this thread hoping to find people actually talking about the content of the magazine, not just complaining because its not free or a reduced price. The majority of the banter here is about the price, not the quality or content. Before everyone starts complaining about the price, have you purchased it, have you seen how it works? I'm going to buy it today on my lunch when I have access to WiFi. NOT EVERYTHING IS FREE!

 

[Lepton]

Look at Wired's current subscription offer on their website. "Just 83 cents an issue!" And get a free hat!

So I'm supposed to pay $5 per issue? No. $3 maybe. $2 absolutely, and I'd love you for it. And you'd be getting much more per issue than when you mail the printed thing to me at 83 cents. Not even counting the hat.

 

[SBlue1]

I've been in print publishing for 25+ years; ~90% of the cost of publishing is printing, paper and distribution. With digital media, all of that is gone. If a publisher's print media is $5 per issue, then it should be $0.50 per issue for digital.

distribution through iTunes is not free. apple gets 30%!

and i guess the numbers you mention also depend greatly on the type of the media. if you let bloggers or freelancers write and trainees and interns do the artwork then 90% are indeed invested into printing and distribution.

but if its a news magazine for instance there is a big chunk of personell cost. good journalists dont work for free. good photos do cost money.

anyway i still believe that the price will get down in the next months.

 

[GoodWatch]

Yeah... and it's *so* realistic to expect a magazine publisher who was formerly content to charge you $10/year for a printed subscription to fork out $500+ to provide you with a FREE iPad, just so they can HOPE you go with a digital subscription with them after that!?

The truth is though, there's got to be some kind of "in between" here. Maybe they could offer subscribers the ability to buy an iPad through them in several installment payments? But I think the hardware is the least of the issue. iPads are selling so well right now, Apple can't seem to build them fast enough.... The problem is that people can't justify paying several times MORE per issue for digital than for paper, mailed to their door.

I agree and this is not an isolated case. There are no costs for distribution, paper and printing, just the content (and perhaps a one time investment to to the conversion if necessary). It reeks of opportunism. iDevice owners are an affluent target group so they MUST be willing to pay more for less And everyone wants to profit by hopping on the iPad bandwagon.

 

[DrIgg]

So let me get this straight... I can pay $10 PER YEAR for the paper version delivered to my door, or I can pay $5 PER MONTH for a digital version that could not possibly cost them nearly as much to produce. Which one will I choose? PLUS I GOTTA SEE ADS TOO? WTF?

Oh yeah, I also get a free t-shirt with the paper version. Seems to me that Conde Nast has no intentions on taking digital publishing seriously.

Agreed. This is one of my favorite publications. I get the glossy version for $10 a year, so why would I pay for the same issue again? I don't mind the ads, that is just part of publishing, but why not give loyal subscribers a discount at least?

I didn't get a T-shirt either

 

[swarmster]

Now here is someone who has it right Kudos to JediZenMaster. I went into this thread hoping to find people actually talking about the content of the magazine, not just complaining because its not free or a reduced price. The majority of the banter here is about the price, not the quality or content. Before everyone starts complaining about the price, have you purchased it, have you seen how it works? I'm going to buy it today on my lunch when I have access to WiFi. NOT EVERYTHING IS FREE!

I think there's less talk about the content because most everyone realizes that Wired is a great magazine and the electronic version looks amazing (see the previous threads here previewing their app for more excitement). Ridiculous pricing will always dominate a discussion.

I'm not looking for a "reduced" price. I'm willing to pay twice as much as my paper subscription. Not six times.

 

[angrynstupid]

Moron

You are so wrong. Expenses are in travel, salaries, design of new concepts/prototyping i.e. content creation. Correct that distribution takes a certain larger percentage, but that's a minimal cost for the publisher, it's often paid by the distributor. The publisher gets a wholesale amount, not the retail amount.

You are off the mark on this.

As they say, you don't know your arse from a hole in the ground.

 

[paul4339]

Charging $25 for the year (12 issues) would be good to build momentum. If I saw the $4.99 per month price or $25 for the year, I'd be tempted to pay the $25. Having a larger audience right off the start will boost your ad revenue (assuming it has ads), especially if you are amongst first 'slick' digital mags out the gate. But then again... it's easier to lower prices later on, but more difficult to increase prices if this thing catches on.

P.

 

[jsbaugh]

This is how e-mags should be done but the price is a bit high. I think over time it will come down. Its now in the top five apps in the app store.

I wish we could consolidate all these magazines in ibooks. I like how Zinio does it which is a great App for e-mags and subscriptions.

 

[ShiftyPig]

$4.99 to read a magazine on a $500 device..... or a 12-month (in this case, six issue) subscription for 600 frequent flier miles that I'll never be able to use on airfare.

Future of magazines

 

[jonnyb]

AHHHHH
Hopefully getting an iPad on Friday. £3.50 a pop is more money that the actually paper mag costs. A subscription works out a £2 an issue.

The price for the app on the UK store is actually £2.99 if it makes any difference to you.

 

[TheSlush]

NOW we're talkin'.