The electronic magazine gained its reputation and became recognized when WIRED introduced its premier iPad edition. There were over a 100,000 copies sold by the publisher. This loudly announced the new concept of a digital magazine. With this success, other magazine publications like GQ, Glamour, and Vanity Fair also rolled out their digital contents in the web.
The iPad magazine dive
The initial success of WIRED’s launched in iPad, sales have dropped down on its subsequent editions where it dived down to 22,000 (October) and 23,000 (November). Other magazine publications have also seen a fall in sales – GQ’s sales of its digital magazines slumped from 13,000 to 11,000; Vanity Fair’s e-magazines plunged down from 10,500 to 8,700; and Glamour’s digital magazine slide down from 4,301 to 2,775.
The real issue
The first release of the iPad digital magazines has been successful because people were intrigued with the new concept of an e-magazine. As time goes by, people didn’t find much difference whether they are reading it on print or online because of the price. One significant factor that became the downfall of the electronic magazines is its cost. They have been charging users with a slightly higher cost than print which is not acceptable by the public. If the people behind this online publications would not do something about this then sales will not pick-up and people will lose interest by the day.
What to do?
Since price has already been determined as one of the causes of the slowly fading of iPad’s e-magazines, publishers and magazine owners should find an alternative solution in keeping the cost high. They can make flexible payment options that will suggest a lower subscription fee or other payment options that will entice people to subscribe again. They may also provide additional features which are not found in print which give it more value that will be worth the price.