Bloomberg Businessweek joins Maxim, Elle and Popular Science on the iTunes Store
The iTunes magazine subscription list grew by 33% Monday when Bloomberg L.P. agreed to Steve Jobs' terms and began offering subscriptions to the iPad version of Bloomberg Businessweek on the iTunes store.
That makes four magazine publishers willing to give Cupertino 30% of each subscription sold and take the risk that they will never know who bought it.
In return, the publishers will gain access to the 14.8 million potential readers who bought iPads last year and the 40 or 50 million or more who are expected to buy one in 2011.
Most publishers have balked at Apple's (AAPL) subscription terms and instead sell only single issues of selected titles on the iPad.
Below: The Wall Street Journal's list of publishers who have and have not agreed to Apple's terms.
Because that's what the market will bear -- at least for now
If you buy the digital editions of Popular Science or TIME Magazine on the iPad, they cost $4.99 each -- same as on the newsstand.
However, one-year subscriptions to Popular Science (the paper magazine) are currently selling for $12 -- or $1 an issue. And TIME subscriptions can be had for $20 -- around 35¢ an issue.
That disconnect was one MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Apr 30, 2010 6:43 AM ET