I’ve been a fan of reading magazines on the iPad since I first got one at launch. However, I’m pretty invested in another application that provides them for reading: Zinio. It’s a great app and works pretty well.
Obviously, Apple felt a need to also have a magazine app of their own and developed Newsstand for iOS 5. It’s been out for a month or so now and, to say the least, it appears to be doing well — and not just for Apple.
According to paidContent, Condé Nast recently said its weekly subscription sales for nine of its digital magazines such as Allure, Brides, Glamour, Self, GQ, Golf Digest, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair and Wired has increased 268% since the storefront made its debut alongside iOS 5. In addition, sales of single issues has risen 142% in comparison to the eight weeks prior to Apple’s launch of Newsstand.
“Putting all the magazines in one place just makes the most sense, in terms of allowing easy discovery for consumers,” Condé Nast executive vice president Monia Ray told paidContent. “Furthermore, the update from iOS 5 is terrific, especially the background loading.
We have a lot of features embedded in our titles and they take time to load. Background loading helps ease the wait-factor. But for the most part, before, the App Store represented a wide-ranging bazaar. Now, it has clear aisles to make it simple for consumers to browse.”
Have you subscribed to any magazines yet in Apple’s Newsstand? If so, what did you get and how do you like it?
