The new People Magazine app for the iPad is the first major print title on the iPad that will be free to its print subscribers.
f you currently subscribe to PEOPLE magazine in print, you can access the iPad Edition FREE!
Apparently Time Inc, publishers of People and a number of other leading print titles, have struck a deal with Apple to allow this sort of subscription deal on iPad titles. It’s thought that the same free to prints subscribers model will soon be applied to Time Magazine, Sports Illustrated, and Fortune’s iPad editions.
From a report in Fortune earlier today:
There’s more to the iPad issue of People that appeared on the Apple (AAPL) App Store this morning than Carrie Underwood’s dream wedding.
This People app also signals the end of a four-and-a-half-month impasse that put the digital dreams of every major magazine publisher on hold.
Until now, the iPad versions of People, Time, Sports Illustrated and Fortune have cost the same as the newsstand price — $3.99 for each issue of People, $4.99 to $5.99 each for the rest — even if you were are already paying to get the paper edition in the mail.
That changed with this week’s People iPad app, which is, for the first time, free to People subscribers. Fortune and the rest of Time Inc.’s (TWX) flagship magazines are expected to adopt the same pricing structure within the next 30 days.
Other major publishers are sure to be adopting this or similar subscription models for iPad editions very soon – and hopefully we’ll start to see further subscription options for digital only content, and iPad plus online type subscriptions.
Today’s a good day for print publishers looking to the iPad, and for iPad readers.
News Source: Fortune via MacRumors
