“We’re particularly excited about the iPad,” Rowan told Rock. “When the iPad is there, you can come up with a price point for it that I think people will pay… It won’t be static, it will be multimedia… We’re not limited by space.”
Rowan said, “I think the price of a magazine like Wired on the iPad will be a bit less than the printed publication, but a bit more than zero.”
Listen to the 4:07 interview here.
[Attribution: mediabistro. Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Carl H” for the heads up.]
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Apple TV continues to build momentum with its hit dramedy “Shrinking,” announcing today that Scottish actress Karen Gillan has joined…
Apple has released the first developer betas of iOS 26.6, iPadOS 26.6, macOS Tahoe 26.6, tvOS 26.6, watchOS 26.6, and…
The Android phone industry is facing its toughest year in history, but Apple’s revolutionary iPhone is bucking the trend…
I can’t wait for Maxim to hit the iPad. FHM, or T3…. thats gonna rock.
I haven’t subscribed to a magazine or newspaper in many years. I haven’t read a novel in three years. {shame}
But for some reason I believe when I receive an iPad I will likely subscribe to many newspapers and magazines. Also, I just started reading a John Grisham novel on my iPhone. (Knowing that the iPad was coming)
Anybody have an idea why it has renewed my interest in reading? I sure don’t.
As it should.
As it should. My thoughts exactly.
@Switheroo
I hadn’t though about it until you mentioned, but to honest I would be much more likely to subscribe to mags with an iPad then I am now…
This really could actually work as far as reinvigorating the old-media industries…
Oh good. A Wired subscription for the print version is $10 per year from Amazon. I expect a lower price for the non-print version for the iPad.
Why would it cost more if you won’t pay for Paper, printing, distribution and all that stuff?
It is like saying that my electric can may reduce gasoline consumption. Of course it will if it does not uses gasoline any more.
People have said the i-pad is just a big i-phone, but more and more, I’m starting to think of it as a laptop without a keyboard.
I’d love to see an i-pad run Mac OS.
I wonder how they will restrict magazine content.
They allow music with explicit lyrics, and movies with nude scenes, but they are exremely opposed to app store apps containing either.
My wife reads romance novels, which I imagine will sell very well on the iPad, and they are for a very mature audience, to say the least.
I wonder if they will allow magazines such as Playboy.
@Switheroo
Let me take a guess at why.
Text, as a communication medium is linear, flexible, highly compressible, and retains it’s elegance because it is extremely simple. If you look at any commercial web page today, there is so little screen real estate because of the vain attempt to extract dollars from the serendipity (read legacy) model of advertising. That model isn’t dead but transferred to the web it has resulted in ads like those you see to the right of this message. The visual presentation is UGLY to say the least because they are tiny ads, don’t (can’t) say much in that tiny space and largely don’t work. The commercial web is today probably the least elegant integrator of advertising messages ever.
Print, a long time ago, embraced visual design and proved that people DO read if presented with a visually appealing display. Design matters.
This isn’t to say that text and textual content don’t. But the two together comprise something larger.
If you look at the design of THIS site as an example. It’s visually jumbled, largely out of necessity. MDN does not control what and how the advertisers present their message except by size and placement. Hence the vast majority of online ads are only useful for brand recognition, not sales (with the exception of Google AdWords since by sheer dint of stunning volume of pageviews they are capable of moving product). The click through rate on most online ads is truly quite low.
When you see a magazine on the iPad you will see BETTER ads, because white space matters, design matters, and ideas matter. Imagine for example you open Wired or T3 and as you flip through you see
“A 90 second tour of the Alps in BMW’s newest most advanced vehicle”
Would you spend 90 seconds to see that? I think a lot of people would…in a big screen with some text support.
Today…it has to be a tiny box ad, or have people driven to it (so to speak) by emailed links or social networked links… All fine and good…but encountering something on your own (without having to wade through email to see it) is a different way of using your time. It’s your LEISURE time…(yes work and leisure are now blended for many people…but reading Wired or T3 usually don’t fall under the definition of work)….
It’s going to become a union of old school design and new technology capability. It’s going to be great.
When did Wired become a fan of Apple? Wired In years past used to bash everything Apple related. I’ve always liked Wired magazine otherwise.
What about gaming magz?
I can’t wait for Surfing Nuns Monthly to hit the iPad!
@PR
Couldn’t explain it better. Bravo!
$10USD (for domestic distribution in the United States) is about right, but I expect it won’t be a cost savings to the publication. Indeed, much of it will be spent on production costs to make the iPad (tablet) edition that much more compelling to watch and read.
U$10 ? For one year? I have to pay U$10 per issue at the airports in EU. Ah, but revenge is sweat, iPad…..
I currently get wire by snail mail. It is the last mag I get by mail. I would love to pay and avoid all the paper waste. Barron’s keeps offering mailed issue bundled with full website content but they don’t get I don’t want paper in my home or that nasty neighbor stealing it early Saturday morning.
@Troy,
Why would it cost more if you won’t pay for Paper, printing, distribution and all that stuff?
Because it’s not the same product? Because you replace those costs with different costs? If the publisher just took the print magazine and made a simple PDF, you’d have a valid point. But, then people may or may not be interested in that product. I know I wouldn’t be.
From the sound of it though, they’re going to add lots of interactive and video content and really exploit the capabilities of the delivery platform to deliver a rich multimedia experience. In that case, I think they’ll have a justifiable case to charge as much as the print version. If they don’t and charge less as this interview indicates, then the value proposition for us consumers will be that much more compelling.
I know I’m interested in seeing the product!
Wired is a POS.
why waste any money on that asswipe rag at all
There are a number of considerations.
A subscription doesn’t pay for more than the printing and mailing costs of a magazine – if that. It certainly doesn’t pay for any of the content. Printing and distribution is about 30% of the cost of a magazine. Advertising pays for the magazine, as well as the profits. Ad to editorial pages ranges from 50-50 to 60 Ads to 40 editorial. Anything less than a 50-50 split means that postal rates go up as well. Less also means that the magazine is on its last legs.
So at first glance, an e-magazine should cost about 30% less than the paper edition if everything else is equal, meaning amount and type of editorial and Ads.
But if that changes, then prices may have to go up. If advertising goes down, that loss has to be made up by either cutting down on editorial, as is done for paper editions, or the price must go up, or some combo of the two.
If new content is added, either written pieces or video and such, then prices may also have to go up to pay for it.
The question is; by how much?
A brilliantly written post, and totally irrelevant as well.
Why should your questionable tastes be an issue here?
iPad, gamechanger.
@ PR
Thanks for your detailed response. I think that it’s spot on.
The magazines that I used to subscribe to always had these big glossy ads that featured, for the most part, products that I was interested in and catered to my demographic.
With the proliferation and glut of website ads — they are invisible to me — and my eyes have been trained to scan a webpage for the 10% of text that I am interested in. I quickly read it and click next. I’ve noticed that on the iPhone I will pay way more attention to the one small banner ad on the bottom of a page than I will to a safari page featuring dozens.
Well it really is a POS – there is nothing worth reading in that mag.
I look forward to seeing what Apple comes up with for mobil advertising.
There are some magazines I buy as much for the adds as for the articles because I want or need to stay up on what is available. That said, if I am a man I probably don’t need to, or want to, keep up on the latest “maxipad” and if I am a woman I may prefer to skip the “condom” adds. It will be nice when “intelligent” mobil advertising can figure out my preferences and deliver adds that are more appropriate to the audience. Those adds can then be more focused in content and length, instead of the “shotgun” effect that we all have to put up with now.
@ Victor:
Where do you live?, in a black ‘hood?