Skype's got ads, Vizio's got PCs, and we got issues (a whole Newsstand full of 'em):
Time Inc. has had a change of heart with Apple and will now begin selling magazine subscriptions through iPad's Newsstand app. Previous apps for Time Inc. magazines, like Sports Illustrated, only allowed for one issue to be purchased at a time. It also gave print subscribers free access.
Last year, Time Inc. opposed how Apple handled subscriptions, such as taking a 30 percent cut of sales and not releasing data on subscribers. But since then, Apple has lets readers opt-in to … Read more
Time Inc., once a prominent opponent to selling magazine subscriptions for the iPad, has reached an agreement to offer subscriptions to all its magazines for Apple's tablet.
The two companies have reached a deal that allows iPad users to subscribe to 20 Time Inc. titles, including Sports Illustrated, Entertainment Weekly, and People magazines through Apple's App Store, Time Inc. CEO Laura Lang told The New York Times. Until now, Time Inc. was the big holdout to Apple's digital subscription plan, which sells iPad versions of magazine content.
Until now, Time Inc. had sold only single-issue app versions … Read more
In PlayStation news this week, the PS3 may be jailbreakable via USB dongle, until Sony breaks down your door and takes your PS3 straight out the door. Also, touch-controls on the back of the PSP may be nigh, we show you the 53 steps it takes to turn off Facebook Places, and Apple tries to climb in your window and snatch your jailbroken iOS device up. See you all in a week!
Time Inc. likes to show off its iPad apps as a symbol of the company's future. But inside the publisher, the digital editions have become a source of hair-pulling frustration.
That's because the magazine giant has been unable to get Apple to let it sell and manage subscriptions for its iPad apps--much to Time Inc.'s surprise.
Last month, the publisher was set to launch a subscription version of its Sports Illustrated iPad app, where consumers would download the magazines via Apple's iTunes but would pay Time Inc. directly. But Apple rejected the app at the last minute, forcing the Time Warner unit to sell single copies, using iTunes as a middleman, multiple sources tell me.
Since then, Time Inc. executives "have been going nuts," trying to figure out how to get Apple to approve a subscription plan. One of the more desperate suggestions, which apparently didn't get traction: pulling the publisher's apps out of the iTunes store altogether.
Subscriptions, whether they're for ink-and-paper magazines or their digital editions, are a big deal for Time Inc. and every other magazine publisher. They value them in part because they provide recurring revenue, but primarily because they provide a treasure trove of data.
The ability to control digital subscriptions also gives publishers the ability to make their existing print subscriptions more valuable, by bundling the two together. Imagine a scenario where existing Time or Sports Illustrated subs get the digital version free, or at a very steep discount.
No other magazine publisher has approval to sell their own iTunes app subscriptions, either. But Apple and Steve Jobs had made a point of reaching out to Time Inc. executives and editors before the iPad's launch, and encouraged them to build digital editions for the platform. … Read more
NEW YORK--Solar panels clusters in New Mexico, wind farms dotting the Great Plains? That's all very nice. But that railroad tunnel in Baltimore is important, too.
On a gray and rainy Thursday, I went to Time Inc.'s midtown Manhattan headquarters for what was supposed to be a panel about the company's flagship magazine's annual "Person of the Year" honor. But amid consistently grave economic news, not to mention the fact that everyone in attendance seemed to agree that President-elect Barack Obama eclipses any other options for the award, the conversation was less about a … Read more
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