More details on the Condé Nast chief: up to 40% of sales could be on iPad news item from yesterday.
This article titled “Vogue slims down for iPad edition” was written by David Teather and Mark Sweney, for The Guardian on Wednesday 15th September 2010 18.06 UTCThe September issue of Vogue will never be the same again.
Traditionally the biggest of the year, and as hefty as a brick, in future the magazine is likely to be a waif-like half-inch thick, no matter how much advertising is packed between its glossy pages. Welcome to the iPad edition, publishing’s equivalent of a size zero.
Publisher Conde Nast announced today it would launch iPad applications for the fashion bible beginning with the December issue, out next month. It will also launch an iPad app for the December issue of Wired, the technology magazine. The company has already launched a number of iPad apps for titles in the US, but this will be its first move in Britain.
The apps will be priced at virtually the same as the print editions, at £3.99, compared to £4 for the physical edition of Wired and £4.10 for Vogue. The app is priced for a single edition, which means regular buyers would need to pay £3.99 each month.
At a presentation on the publisher’s digital strategy, Nicholas Coleridge, managing director of Conde Nast in the UK, said he saw no reason to discount electronic editions. "We don’t want to get into selling our content cheaper on the internet," he said.
He forecast that as much as 40% of the publisher’s sales could come from apps for Apple’s iPad and similar devices within 15 years. The company also publishes titles including GQ, Vanity Fair and Glamour.
Last month the iPad was described by Rupert Murdoch as a "game changer" for news media.He predicted that "hundreds and hundreds of millions" of similar tablet computers will eventually be sold around the world.
Albert Read, general manager at Conde Nast, was equally lavish in his praise, saying the iPad’s arrival "marks a significant shift" for the publishing industry. "We have arrived at a point where magazine publishers have before them what they have long dreamt of – an opportunity to transfer the magazine qualities of deep immersion, high resolution images, long form journalism and storytelling to a digital format," he said.
Advertisers appearing in the print editions of the two magazines will appear automatically on the iPad app. There will be a chance to include a link to advertisers’ sites and a limited number will be offered the chance to augment their advertising, whether with video, slideshows or other media.
Wired has one of the most natural constituencies for an iPad app of any magazine; Conde Nast claims that 18% of its readers, a circulation of 50,000, already own a device.
Conde Nast launched its first iPhone apps in Britain in July, with the Conde Nast Traveller City Guides. The guides for Rome, New York, Barcelona and Paris are updated free of charge quarterly and include insider guides, restaurant reviews and a function to call and make a reservation, as well as GPS to get you to the door. The publisher is developing iPhone apps for GQ and Brides, which will be launched at the end of the year.
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