iPad Wired Magazine - what a bummer!

[kjk]

Originally Posted by 6charlong

Is there a way to delete the magazines after you read them?

Well, for now, it is just an self contained app.

So, yes, you can delete them, and even re-download them free of charge later, just like other apps. Will be curious to see how they manage stuff like this though on a monthly basis...500M is pretty crazy.

[kjk]

24,000 copies sold in first 24 hours- http://twitter.com/johncabell/statuses/14833945815

According to one of my back issues, Wired moves around 700-750k issues a month?

[Crowl]

Originally Posted by dmaul1114

Between giving out very cheap (and often even free) subscriptions to get circulation numbers up to get more ad revenue, and many posting all their print content (plus more!) on their websites for free, it's hard to even think of spending $4-7 an issue which seem to be current newsstand prices.

It does seem likely that the whole magazine free on the website thing is going to change as companies try to drive digital sales and will just want the website to promote the paper and any digital versions, the money simply isn't there for them to survive based on online advertising.

[Crowl]

Originally Posted by kjk

24,000 copies sold in first 24 hours- http://twitter.com/johncabell/statuses/14833945815

According to one of my back issues, Wired moves around 700-750k issues a month?

Not a bad amount at all, but obviously the first issue is going to attract attention, I assume they will be more interested to see how many buy the 2nd and 3rd issues after trying this one.

[scottjl]

popular science is on their 3rd issue (june) already. i'm curious what the follow-up purchases have been. i know i didn't buy any other than the first issue (and haven't bothered to buy the wired app). $5/mo for a digital edition just isn't worth it.

[kjk]

Originally Posted by Crowl

Not a bad amount at all, but obviously the first issue is going to attract attention, I assume they will be more interested to see how many buy the 2nd and 3rd issues after trying this one.

Definitely...and they aren't helped by the fact that its just not that easy to keep track of new app releases in general-not every issue will get this level of attention...and I don't think the current app will "update" next month, either...probably a whole new app to search for.

[scottjl]

well.. pretty much anyone who has bought a magazine knows to look for the next issue the next month. i don't know about the wired app since i don't have it, but the popular science app handles new issues with in-app purchases and it pops up a notice telling you there is a new issue out, more than once. so they certainly let you know.

a subscription model would still be best, let it just download the new issue when it's released (or better yet, in stages the prior weeks). just the pricing has to be more in-line with paper subscription rates for me to even consider it.

funny thing for me is, i easily rack up 500k miles a year on airlines, at the end of the year they are always pushing magazine subscriptions for airline miles. it's nothing for me to toss away 20k miles for 4-5 magazines, so i'm not likely to pay for paper or electronic subscriptions anyway.

[dmaul1114]

Originally Posted by Crowl

It does seem likely that the whole magazine free on the website thing is going to change as companies try to drive digital sales and will just want the website to promote the paper and any digital versions, the money simply isn't there for them to survive based on online advertising.

Agreed. But the problem subsequent to that is most magazines are just fluff. Even if they stop putting their content up there, you can find the same info for free on other websites. And many times it's up way before the magazine is out since magazines come out weekly or monthly and websites can update instantly.

Of all the facets of the print industry, magazines and newspapers are in the most trouble as with all the news sites, hobby sites, blogs etc. they're just largely unnecessary. Forcing people to pay to get info they've already gotten for free online by the time the print editions are out.

And as I said above, they helped de-value themselves and ingrain people to get their content without paying by putting it on their websites for free for years.

Anyway, that's getting off topic.....

[Fotoman]

Originally Posted by dmaul1114

Of all the facets of the print industry, magazines and newspapers are in the most trouble as with all the news sites, hobby sites, blogs etc. they're just largely unnecessary. Forcing people to pay to get info they've already gotten for free online by the time the print editions are out.

Neither info nor writers are created equally. Yes the easily digestible news bites that many are satisfied with are best grabbed off the net from (often very poorly written) blogs, feeds etc. But there still is and, imho, always will be a place for well-researched and expertly-written, in-depth content produced by profesionals.

At least that's what I get from magazines and it's why I still buy them through Zinio subscriptions. I even find weekly news recaps such as Time and the Canadian equivalent, Macleans, worthwhile. The Zinio edition of Macleans has many active links that take you to even more background with a click. Nothing fancy nor full of iPad-specific bells and whistles, but useful added value nevertheless. 52 issues of that for $39 is very much worth it.

The type of material that's becoming less worth paying for is the immediate coverage of fresh news stories. That and the use of paper are the parts of journalism that are in jeopardy and likely to die as a something people would be willing to pay money for, but I think digital mags with more background and detail have a bright future...once they work out the format and pricing kinks that is.

[dmaul1114]

Yeah, that's part of it as well. Most people these days don't want to read long features in magazines, but just get quick blurbs to stay informed. Especially younger generations like mine and below (I'm 31) that grew up getting most of our news and information from the internet.

So what Magazines have to do is sell the value of longer features etc.--Newsweek has tried this with the format change they did last year to focus less on news recap and more on features. But who knows how much success that can have, especially among the younger crowd.

I enjoy a well written article, but at the end of the day I just want news/information in as easily digestible format as possible so I can spend the bulk of my time on work, social life and hobbies.

And like many, Newsweek still puts every article up for free on their website, so I didn't bother renewing my subscription even though I really liked the format change--I'm too busy/not interested enough to read every issue anyway. And that's gotten me and likely many others used to getting the content for free and most will probably be unlikely to pay for it in the future.

So magazines and newspapers really shot themselves in the feet by giving their content away for free for so long as it's hard to change gears and get people to pay for something they're used to getting for free.

[The Old Man]

Just checked the app store. Wired is #1 in Top Paid iPad Apps and #2 in Top Grossing Apps. Time & Popular Science don't show up in the first 50's list of either category.

[dmaul1114]

Not really a surprise since it's a tech magazine and early adoption of tech gadgets is going to be heavy on techies.

[kjk]

http://www.pubexec.com/article/newss...-ipad-edition/

Chris Anderson , Wired editor-in-chief, is getting all wired up about the roaring success of the tech magazine's iPad edition. And rightfully so — in the nine days following its launch, the app spent five days in the No.1 paid app slot and sold 73,000 copies, according to Crain's New York Business.

Last Sunday, Anderson tweeted the following bright prediction: "73,000 purchases of Wired iPadd app in first nine days. Should beat newsstand sales of print mag (ave. mid 80s) this month."

Experiment, curiosity, one-time fluke or whatever..that is $255K for Wired to date after Apple's 30% cut...not bad.

[scottjl]

i'll be really curious to see sales numbers for the next few months.. if the public will follow through. wired might pull continue to pull off high numbers because of the geek factor, but i doubt other magazines will fare so well.

[kjk]

Originally Posted by scottjl

i'll be really curious to see sales numbers for the next few months.. if the public will follow through. wired might pull continue to pull off high numbers because of the geek factor, but i doubt other magazines will fare so well.

Yeah...what is nice is that app devs gets pretty accurate/instant feedback on their sales prices/sales by having such a controlled environment-the smart ones will move quickly to raise/drop prices based on sales trends, competition, etc.

We will see a lot of experimentation with periodicals I'm sure in the near future-looking forward to seeing what comes of it all; and whether anyone can make an app more of a value proposition than what we've come to expect for "free" on the internet.

I do think that what we do see on the Internet now is the bare baseline for free-watching these companies plotting to put current content behind paywalls just seems so futile...people won't pay for what they've been getting already for free for years.