Lure of iPad subscriptions may outweigh pain for publishers

16.02.2011
There may not be a ton of enthusiasm in the publishing world for --particularly when it comes to giving Cupertino a 30 percent slice of the pie. But the iPad juggernaut may be too big for many publishers to risk pushing back.

The publishers of and magazines said they'd make their publications available for subscription through Apple, but acknowledged Wednesday there will some tradeoffs. The iPad-using audience is too big and too lucrative--and the demand for subscription options is too great--to ignore.

"Of course we would always like to see a lower commission, but we are able to work with this commission rate at this time," said Philippe Guelton, chief operating officer of , publisher of . "The cost of developing our own e-commerce platform is not economically viable. Apple is offering a great turnkey tool that allows us to test with little to no financial risk."

"In today's consumer marketing environment, we feel a 70 percent remit directly to the publisher is a sustainable and reasonable model we can work with," added Gregg Hano, group publisher for . "The audience is, we think, extremely valuable."

Elsewhere in the publishing industry, reactions ranged from cautious optimism to pushback to silence on Apple's new policy, which lets customers can sign up for subscriptions via in-app purchases. Those subscriptions will get automatically billed and renewed on users' iTunes accounts. With this method, Apple takes 30 percent of subscription fees. Customers can sign up outside the app, at company Websites, but publishers are not allowed to provide in-app links for such a signup, and Apple stipulates that in-app subscription prices remain either the same or less than their counterpart offers.

Time, Hearst, Conde Nast, and Atlantic Media Companies were among major magazine publishers who remained silent or declined comment Wednesday about their iOS plans. Barnes & Noble, which makes some periodicals available on the iPad through its app, offered a curt statement: "Nook apps are available on the App Store for iPhone and iPad," said Mary Ellen Keating, a spokeswoman for the book-selling giant. "Nothing further to offer at this time."