Periodical
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Newsweek to drop print edition after December 31st, gives the digital future a warm hug
It's no secret that print media is on its way out, as many regional and niche publications have had to either find a path through the digital wilderness or fold completely. We're still not used to national publications facing that ultimatum, though, which makes Newsweek's fresh decision to drop its print edition after December 31st both unusual and a bellwether. Anyone still yearning for the magazine's content after the presses stop will have to turn to the purely digital Newsweek Global or its The Daily Beast sibling, no matter how attached they are to the outlet's 80-year history with paper. The explanation for the cutoff remains a familiar story: print readership is dying on the vine and expensive to maintain, while web and tablet adoption is growing quickly enough that Newsweek believes it can make the switch without taking a long-term financial hit. Whether or not the transition works, it's evident the periodical knows its identity must be wrapped around an online presence -- figuratively, not literally.
The Daily celebrates a year with 100,000 paid subscribers on iPad
One of the iPad's first regular periodical publications (if not the first one) The Daily launched a year ago. It's been a fairly rocky year. Originally, the Rupert Murdoch-funded app hoped it could get at least half a million subscriptions to keep its publication going; a few months ago we heard that there were 120,000 daily readers, and now Mashable says the paper boasts 100,000 paid subscribers. Despite not nearly reaching its original goal, The Daily still seems to be rolling on. Publisher Greg Clayman says that when the app originally launched, the goal was to make an experience unique to the tablet. That's why The Daily began only on the iPad and has only recently added content on the Android platform, via the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1. Clayman says that while the company has kept its choice of platforms slim, The Daily has been delivering on its promise to break news; it was the first to report on the story of Paula Deen having diabetes and Alec Baldwin wanting to run for mayor in New York. Clayman says that The Daily is still headed for profitability "over the next couple of years," which he says is actually better than most traditional publications. The Daily might not have the readership that it hoped to have, but a year into its existence Clayman seems optimistic about the publication's future. "We now have a fully baked, fully functional app CMS, and a large, engaged readership," he says. "A year ago we were asking how to build the boat. Now it's about understanding the best way to steer the boat."
Periodicals on App Store must offer in-app subscriptions by March 31
According to the Wall Street Journal, Apple will require any subscription-based periodical apps on the App Store to offer an in-app purchase option by March 31 or else face rejection. While that may sound like a fairly draconian demand on Apple's part, the Journal also notes (albeit way down in the article) that Apple is still allowing publishers to offer subscription purchasing options outside the App Store so long as in-app purchasing is offered, too. While the Journal says Apple hasn't commented on what this means for e-book apps like Amazon's Kindle reader, I'll go out on a limb and say that Sony's recent "the sky is falling" media frenzy following the rejection of its Reader app was likely much ado about nothing. So long as Apple still allows content purchased outside of the app's in-app purchase mechanism, there doesn't seem to be anything untoward going on here. The road ahead still looks slightly bumpy, however; while in-app subscription purchasing is a potential boon to users, there's no indication that Apple's giving up its 30 percent cut of in-app purchase sales. That might be more than some companies are willing to swallow, Amazon in particular, so it's unclear how certain publishers will react to the mandatory in-app purchasing rules even if off-app purchasing is still allowed. We'll be watching very carefully how Apple's relationship with publishers plays out over the next couple of months [via Engadget]
Apple developing iNewsstand to support iBooks?
Apple has been doing what it can to bring publications of a more periodical nature to the iPad and other iDevices, but hasn't exactly offered a stunning portfolio of papers and such. That's set to change according to a Bloomberg report citing the ever popular people "familiar with the matter," indicating that Apple is currently building partnerships with various parties to develop pricing strategies to bring that content to consumers. This will supposedly be presented through a new storefront especially dedicated to periodical content, which could be launching as soon as a few months from now -- though there is also speculation that Apple will sit on it until the launch of a next-gen iPad. There are a number of roadblocks, including an apparent resistance from Apple to release the specific sales metrics that publishers want to tailor their content. Oh, and there's the traditional 30 percent cut of revenue rubbing some the wrong way. Will Apple succeed in bringing all these pubs together? It's certainly succeeded at herding the music industry...
Wii getting $50 price drop this month? One Toys R Us ad seems to think so
Of all the fakeables in consumer electronics, the weekly newspaper ad has to be one of the easiest marks. Still, this one looks pretty legit, and if it's real it means either we're getting a much overdue Wii price cut on September 27th, or someone on the Toys R Us ad team has been severely misinformed. If it's not true and we have to wait another holiday season for the Wii to break the $200 mark, we're not getting Nintendo that Snuggie we promised it for Christmas -- everybody knows only good little boys, girls and multinational game companies get presents. [Via Joystiq]
Another MMO Periodical in the Works
Remember those things we used to read before we had the internet? What were they called? Mag....maga...magazines! That's the ticket. Anyway, according to ICv2 News, Beckett Media has announced a new bi-monthly title to hit stores soon. Beckett Massive Online Gamer will be on the stands in May, and will focus exclusively on the world of MMO's. There are a few new MMO mags that will be on the market soon; it will be interesting to see which ones stick around...
