Time Magazine to charge same price for iPad app as print edition

Time Magazine to charge same price for iPad app as print edition
AllThingsD is reporting today that Time Magazine is setting the price of their iPad app at $5 per week, the same price as the print edition costs at a newsstand.

While the digital version will include bonuses such as video, it is clear that delivery of the electronic version is cheaper than a print edition, yet the price does reflect the difference.



The blog asked Time why the pricing scheme and got this response: "We are offering a compelling, robust and beautiful product. The production of this high quality, fact-checked reporting takes resources. We believe there is a real value to this product and as consumers experience it, they will agree. We are currently only offering single copy sales, just like at your local newsstand–and, the price is the same as the physical newsstand. We will soon be offering subscriptions–both digital subscriptions and print/digital bundled subscriptions. We anticipate these subscriptions will be discounted off the newsstand price."

At this point, however, the expensive price point doesn't seem to matter, as the app is top 25 in "top paid."

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 6 Apr 2010 1:44
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  • 4 comments
  • 20TONS

    Well good luck with that!

    6.4.2010 01:56 #1

  • av_verbal

    so they want to charge the same price for a product that has the overheads severely reduced?

    come on ppl be brainwashed into believing that paying the same price for a product that now costs a quarter of the cost to supply is ok, remember its all about economics and capitalism and companies have a right to charge what they want for their products, giving us good value, tsk that's not the capitalist way!

    6.4.2010 04:55 #2

  • bomber991

    This is what newspapers and magazines should have been doing from the beginning. They always sold their online advertisement spaces way cheaper than their print ad spaces. We all got used to essentially "free" websites from them.

    7.4.2010 00:07 #3

  • slickwill

    If a good number people refuse to pay that much for the digital copy, then they will probably reduce the price. But then again, they might not lower the price b/c the targeted amount of their customers are purchasing the product. In other words, the rest of us could refuse to pay that amount, but if some people are willing to pay that much to satisfy their expected/needed demand then the price probably won't change.

    I never read Time Magzine, but just thinking about flipping or scrolling through all those advertisements on a digital version seems very annoying.

    7.4.2010 22:54 #4

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