GQ, one of the first magazine titles to appear on the iPad, has sold 365 copies of its December 2009 Men of the Year issue, according to publisher Pete Hunsinger.
The issue was priced at $2.99 per download — $2 less than the newsstand price — for a grand total of $1,091.35 in sales. Somewhat surprisingly, GQ appears to be pleased with this figure.
“This costs us nothing extra: no printing or postage,” says Hunsinger. “Everything is profit, and I look forward to the time when iPad issue sales become a major component to our circulation.”
It seems developer fees did not enter into his cost calculations.
On the bright side, sales for the iPhone and iPod touch version is steadily increasing, according to the iTunes store [iTunes link]. GQ’s latest May 2010 issue for the iPhone and iPod touch is the best-selling in the store right now, suggesting that the magazine is developing a solid base of repeat buyers.
It’s hard to put these numbers in context, as little data about iPad app sales has been released thus far. A month ago, ABC announced that its app has been downloaded more than 200,000 times, and earlier this month Rupert Murdoch revealed that the WSJ app has roughly 64,000 subscribers. Both of these apps, however, are free.
Although we need more data to make an accurate assessment, one thing seems certain — the iPad is not the savior certain major publishers had hoped it would be — at least not yet. Nevertheless, it may yet prove a profitable distribution platform for magazines in addition to other platforms, like Facebook.
Publisher Condé Nast is forging ahead with the development of iPad versions of its other popular titles. Vanity Fair appeared in the iTunes catalog this week, and WIRED is slated to launch this summer.
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