Peter Kafka

Recent Posts by Peter Kafka

Another Magazine App? Yep. But This One's For the Ladies: Condé Nast Brings Glamour to the iPad.

It’s getting increasingly difficult to justify writing about a new iPad magazine app, but what the heck: Condé Nast has new iPad magazine app!

This one’s from Glamour, and you can check it out for yourself at iTunes. If you’re very impatient, you can see a promotional video at the bottom of this post.

A quick rundown of things you should know about this one:

  • Like Condé’s GQ and Vanity Fair apps, this one was built in-house, as opposed to Condé’s Wired app, which was built with Adobe’s (ADBE) somewhat controversial assistance. Casual readers may not tell the difference, but the performance of the two sets of apps is of intense interest to Condé, which is trying to figure out which way to go. The New Yorker is scheduled to get the Adobe treatment next.
  • The app sells for $3.99, the same as the print edition. That could change down the line, because Condé is in R&D mode right now. Condé would also like to sell its own subscriptions for this stuff, but so far, it can’t. Just like every other magazine publisher.
  • A new twist for this app: Readers can tap on certain images and get whisked off to a Web page where they can buy the item. Condé doesn’t get a slice of any sale, but that could change down the line.
  • Excitement over the iPad goosed ad sales for Glamour’s September issue, which clocks in at 420 pages. That’s the highest total in 23 years. On the flip side, producing the app took real resources, says editor Cindi Leive. “It’s definitely a lot of work, but we’re not complaining. It’s 1,000 percent worth it.”
  • Not to put too fine a point on it, but Apple’s (AAPL) App Store, and particularly the iPad department, skews very dude-heavy. This is one of the first iPad apps–and the first magazine app, I believe–built with the ladies in mind.

So, ladies–what do you think?

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