iPad

PrintingChoice (PC) has a very nice infographic that compares magazine sales via traditional print and app channels. Long story short, PC holds (and we agree) that the reason for humble magazine sales via the apps channel (if compared to print channel) lies in the fact that the print option offers substantially lower cost on an annual basis.

To expand a bit on this – let’s take a look at the pricing difference for print and app version of Time Magazine. Buying a single issue of Time will cost you $4.99 at the newsstand, the price is the same if you get that Time issue via iTunes – simple math, all is equal here… Now, let’s say you are an avid reader and you’d like to get every single printed issue for next 12 months. The print option will set you back $20, good deal – you’d have to agree. Now, let’s assume you’d want to save a tree or two and to do so you opt to purchase every single app issue of the magazine for next 12 months – this will set you back $254 as there is no discount for the app edition of the magazine so you are paying the single issue price multiplied by number of issues you are purchasing.

The message here is simple, unless publishers (and Apple) figure out way to bring the two prices together ($20 and $254) sales of app magazines will continue to lag and the promise of app based publishing might as well never materialize.

But, rest assured that the bright sales and marketing MBAs in the publishing houses are already crafting models to change this in a way to generate more revenue – for example, People magazine started offering free iPad downloads for all folks who purchase subscription to their printed edition. It’s an interesting concept, I am sure many are about to follow…. For more details, check out the People Magazine’s iPAD FAQ on the publisher’s site…

On the same note, check out MagApps.com, a a very nice Magazine App review site indeed. The following apps are profiled (as of 8/18/10):
MagApps Reviewed App Inventory

• APC Magazine for iPad
• Arizona Key Magazine
• Athletics Weekly
• Car and Driver Magazine
• Dwell Magazine App
• Epicurious Recipes & Shopping List App
• Esquire Magazine iPhone App
• Golf Digest App
• Gourmet Live
• GQ Magazine App
• iCreate Magazine App
• Premier Guitar Magazine App
• iPlay’n Learn Parents Magazine App
• Jet Away Magazine
• Lucky Magazine Shopping App
• MacUser iPad App
• Martha’s Everyday Food iPhone App
• Men’s Health Magazine iPad Edition
• Modern Luxury – Digital Editions
• NYLON Magazine App
• OK! Magazine App
• Outside Magazine App
• Popular Science+ App
• SHAPE Bride App
• Slate Magazine
• SPIN iPhone Application
• Sports Illustrated Magazine App – SI
• TheKnot Wedding App
• TIME Magazine App for iPad
• Vanity Fair Magazine iPad App
• Vogue Stylist App
• Web Designer Magazine
• Wired iPad Edition
• Women’s Health Magazine iPhone App
• Zinio Digital Magazines

Given Adobe Flash’s ubiquity, the lack of Flash support is certainly one of the biggest turn-offs for potential iPad buyers. On the other hand, some of leading publishers are sidestepping the issue by providing alternative video streaming methods.

For example both Brightcove platform which enables them to detect the visitor’s operating system and to route the appropriate video stream accordingly.

So, let’s say, if an iPad user hits the publisher’s page, Brightcove will detect Apple iPhone OS on the visitor’s system and will stream H.264-encoded video renditions optimized for iPad screen resolution via html5. Problem solved.

Here is Brightcove’s sales pitch to publishers:

Ready for Apple iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch
Reduce the cost and complexity of delivering and monetizing video on current and future generations of Apple devices that support the HTML5 standard. Deliver the best possible video experience to iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch users.

Automatic Device Detection
Brightcove automatic device detection dynamically switches between Flash and HTML5 player templates to suit the viewer’s device capabilities.

Native HTML5 Player Templates
New HTML5 templates provide multi-title playlists, analytics tracking, social sharing controls, advertising insertion, and other capabilities to provide a customizable video experience built on open standards.

Gorgeous H.264 transcoding
Brightcove’s cloud transcoding engine converts virtually any source file into H.264-encoded video renditions optimized for multiple encoding profiles, bit rates, and screen sizes.

Pricing and Availability
The Brightcove Experience for HTML5 is provided at no charge to customers with subscriptions to Brightcove Professional, Enterprise, and Express $499 editions. An early version of the automatic device detection and HTML5 player template are available in the Brightcove Developer Center. Additional capabilities will be provided in future versions released throughout 2010.