Time.com
TIme Magazine’s new iPad app is a free download, but access to each weekly installment of the news magazine will cost $4.99. According to answers posted on the app’s FAQ page, the iPad edition of the magazine will include the “entire current, U.S. print issue of TIME the same week it is available on newsstands. Plus, the app will contain additional photos, videos, live updates from TIME.com and additional content from the International editions and select content from TIME Global Business edition.”
The print cover price for the magazine is $4.95, and a typical subscription rate averages out to about .35 cents per issue delivered. Staci Kramer at paidContent summarizes the pricing strategy: “Given that Time’s own iPhone app is free — and includes multimedia as well — and that it has a free mobile site with an iPad-optimized version, it’s hard to imagine Time is counting on many single-issue sales of its iPad edition.”
