Hearst Publications to sell magazines on iTunes

Hearst Publications, the publisher behind popular magazines like Esquire, Popular Mechanics, and O, will be putting its publications up for sale on the iTunes store. The Wall Street Journal has reported that a deal has been finalized between the two Hearst Publications and Apple, and they will start selling their iPad versions of the aforementioned magazines, starting this July.

The magazines will be sold at $1.99 a month or $19.99 for a year’s subscription. This move makes Hearst the first major magazine publisher to commit to selling subscriptions of multiple titles through Apple’s iTunes service. Hearst has also mentioned that it will be selling other content such as newspaper apps through iTunes in the future.

Not many publishers have been willing to sell their content using Apple’s subscription service because of the huge cut Apple gets from the sales – 30% and the fact that Apple controls the whole process and won’t release subscriber information. With a big publisher like Hearst agreeing to sell magazine subscriptions through iTunes, more publishers might be inclined to follow suit as well. How many of you will be getting your Hearst Publications magazines on the iPad?

George Wong
Categories: Apple, Tablets
Tags: Apple Inc, iOS, iTunes, magazine, subscription