Time Inc. was conspicuously absent from the list of publishers who were expected to be on board this morning when Amazon launches its new Kindle Fire tablet, but that doesn’t mean the company was silent.
As about 350 top executives, publishers and editors who gathered for Time Inc.’s quarterly management meeting heard yesterday, all 21 Time Inc. magazines will be available on tablets by Jan. 1.
That means InStyle, Real Simple, Cooking Light, Sunset and Money and about a dozen others will be available on a variety of formats including the Apple iPad and the Android-based Amazon system that is being unveiled today. Currently, only Time, Sports Illustrated, People and Fortune are available.
Media Ink has learned that Rodale, owner of Men’s Health, Runners World and Prevention is on board the Amazon launch, along with Bonnier Corp., which publishes Field & Stream, Popular Science and Parenting. Hearst, Condé Nast, Meredith also have signed on, according to All Things D.
Why not Time? One source said that it centers on pricing. According to one industry source, Amazon is setting the pricing levels.
Time Inc., with a lot of weekly magazines in its stable, would have considerably higher annual subscription prices. Amazon is said to want to have low-priced subscriptions to attract eyeballs as it unveils the first serious rival to the Apple iPad, which has sold some 25 million units.
That makes this battle a little different than the earlier standoff with Steve Jobs’s Apple. In that one, publishers were worried that Apple was not sharing subscription data, which is crucial for publishers .
Apple finally relented with an “opt-in” option allowing consumers to say whether they’d like to have the publisher see the information. One publishing exec who was initially concerned about surrendering control of the data now says it has been a pleasant surprise, with “opt-in” rates running around 60 percent.
Si boutique
Condé Nast is more than a marketing partner with Moda Operandi, the high-end fashion site that had a home at Vogue.com.
The publishing empire controlled by S.I. Newhouse Jr. has apparently taken one of its first minority equity stakes in the boutique operation headed by Creative Director Lauren Santo Domingo and CEO Aslaug Magnusdottir.
Santo Domingo is married to Columbian beer baron Andres Santo Domingo. She has been a fixture in high-end fashion and social circles for years and has been carried as contributing editor to Anna Wintour’s Vogue. Magnusdottir was previously at Gilt Groupe.
Both were fascinated by the fashion shows but often frustrated because many of the designer outfits could not be ordered from retail outlets for months. Often the more elaborate outfits never made it to store shelves at all — they lived and died as outfits only for the runway models.
The company has about 120,000 “members” who are willing to pay top price to be the first with outfits carrying price tags from $3,000 to $12,000.
Membership gives them first dibs on the goods designed by Marc Jacobs, Vera Wang, Isabel Marant and others.
Consumers put down 50 percent when placing the order and 50 percent when it is ready to ship, guaranteeing fashionistas that they will beamong the very first to wear a designer-prized collection.
Moda Operandi takes a cut — somewhere in the 60 percent range — on par with what a retailer would charge.
It closed a $10 million round of funding in June led by venture-capital firm New Enterprise Associates with participation from New Atlantic Ventures.
But it apparently held a smaller second round for strategic partners said to include Newhouse/Condé Nast investment as well as boutique bank Allen & Co. and Carmen Busquets, a Venezuelan luxury goods investor trying to figure out where to invest the $100 million-plus she made from sale of Net-a-Porter.
Hearst tablets
Hearst has been known for aggressive pricing in the tablet world, with single copies available for $1.99 and annual subscriptions available for $19.99. Yesterday, Hearst Magazines President David Carey said it has “exceeded 300,000 paid distribution” digital editions. The company’s mags are available on just about all tablets, including Zinio, the iPad, the Barnes & Noble color Nook and Amazon’s new tablet.
AM NY
AM New York, the free daily, will have an opening at the top by week’s end. Current Editor-in-Chief Diane Goldie is heading to the mother ship, Newsday. Both papers are owned by Cablevision.
Paul Turcotte, AM New York publisher, is said to be searching inside and out for a replacement. Neither Goldie nor Newsday had returned calls by presstime. The current No. 2, managing editor Mae Cheng, also could not be reached .