Katie Marsal
The new Esquire iPad app (iTunes link) from Hearst Communications was released on Friday. Version 1.0 is 88.9MB, and at $4.99 it includes the latest issue of the magazine.
The digital edition also includes exclusive features, like a "moving cover" featuring actor Javier Bardem, an interactive explanation of how the new World Trade Center is being built, and videos accompanying some of the biggest stories from the issue. Users can also copy, save and share articles, quotes and photos.
The magazine represents the first real foray into the iPad digital publishing world for Hearst, one of the largest publishers in the world. The company previously experimented with a single "interactive edition" of Popular Mechanics (iTunes link), but that application has not been updated to reflect recent issues since it debuted July.
According to Peter Kafka of MediaMemo, for now Hearst plans to stick with a standard newsstand price of $4.99. The company has considered offering subscriptions, but one doesn't appear to be in the cards anytime soon.
For those who think the $4.99 asking price is too much, Kevin O'Malley, publisher of Esquire, said publications have to "reshape expectations" for pricing of digital content.
"Unlike many apps, Esquire doesn’t provide a literal translation of the print copy," Kafka wrote. "So it can’t count app sales as newsstand sales, but O'Malley seems fine with that. The upside for the reader is that Esquire doesn’t need to include every ad from the print edition, and instead features just two ads from a single sponsor — Lexus."
Recent reports have indicated that Apple is working on a standalone digital newsstand which would offer subscriptions to print publications. The rumored application is said to be similar in approach to iBooks, the downloadable storefront for e-books run by Apple and available for the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch.
A major issue for publications on the iPad has been a desire to obtain information about readers to share with advertisers. While such data is a necessity in the print world, Apple does not allow software on its App Store to collect such information.
Reports have suggested that Apple could allow to offer an opt-in function that would let subscribers agree to share their personal information with publications. Such a deal could be a part of subscription plans through the rumored newsstand application.
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25 Comments
The best magazine by far on the iPad. Wired's doesn't come close. I'd love a subscription of course like everyone else but Esquire for iPad is the only magazine I would pay $4.99 a month for. It's not like other iPad magazines that are just PDF copy of the print version. For the price of a McDonalds meal it's worth it for me based on the great content they have in the app that I will never experience in a paper version.
Even better is that there are no annoying gazillion advertisements in between articles like the paper version. There are only two ads from Lexus and Audi and they're both interactive.
Esquire sounds like a fine magazine. I'm sure it will do very well. But the price. I would have expected online content to be cheaper than the printed version. It seems to me that there would be less overhead in distribution.
Verizon is behind all of this. Its knifes in Esquire's back as part of a plan to make Apple give them an iPhone.
I?d love to subscribe to newspaper and periodical again but I am waiting for a proper system to be in place. I want one app, I want a subscription model, I don?t care if it rotates and rewrites (games don?t work this way), but I would like new issues to be pushed out when they are ready so I don?t have to go hunting for each new subscription.
Even better is that there are no annoying gazillion advertisements in between articles like the paper version. There are only two ads from Lexus and Audi and they're both interactive.
That would explain the price point.
Are these iAds? I have yet to see an iAd and oddly will pay money right now just to use one of these ads.
Esquire sounds like a fine magazine. I'm sure it will do very well. But the price. I would have expected online content to be cheaper than the printed version. It seems to me that there would be less overhead in distribution.
If the sales were equal and the content identical with advertisers contracts holding for both distribution methods I would expect the iPad version to yield them more profit.
Esquire sounds like a fine magazine. I'm sure it will do very well. But the price. I would have expected online content to be cheaper than the printed version. It seems to me that there would be less overhead in distribution.
From limited experience in publishing, by far the greatest expense is for content and composition of the content. The cost of paper and distribution is minor compared the above. Wurm5150 indicates it is not just a pdf version of the paper copy, which means the composition costs for the ipad version are separate from those of the paper version.
It will be interesting to see over time how prices adjust to expenses vs demand.