Conde Nast is very close to a deal to begin selling digital subscriptions via Apple’s iPad.
The New Yorker will become the first publication from the S.I. Newhouse, Jr., empire to be available via subscription on the popular tablet, and it will happen early next week, said a source familiar with the situation.
The deal means Condé will actually beat rival Hearst in the iPad subscription derby. Hearst said yesterday it was going to start selling subscriptions and single copies of Esquire, O: the Oprah Magazine and Popular Mechanics via the iPad effective with the July issues, available sometime next month.
Condé is expected to make the New Yorker available next week to capitalize on coverage of Osama bin Laden’s death.
But by the end of the May, Condé will have the seven other magazines that are currently selling single-copy-only editions on the iPad available via subscriptions, including Wired, Golf Digest, Glamour, Vanity Fair, Self, Allure and GQ.
The deal will involve drastically slashing the single-copy price of the digital issue to $1.99 from the $4.99 price tag for the digital New Yorker and GQ — the same as the newsstand price — and from $3.99 for digital Glamour and Wired.
Annual subscriptions for each title will sell for $19.99.
Publishers had been stymied from jumping onto the iPad bandwagon because Apple was not turning over extensive subscription data information, which is the lifeblood of data marketing for publishers.
It is expected that Condé will have some kind of opt-in system allowing publishers to get more detailed information from consumers — but only with subscribers’ consent. Control of that information has been a stumbling block with Time Inc. and other publishers.
Some worry that without the detailed info, magazine publishers could simply become content creators for Apple, which would have tremendous leverage to keep a bigger cut for itself.
Currently, Apple keeps 30 percent of each publication sold via its iTunes store. That is not particularly upsetting to publishers. Amazon’s Kindle at one point was keeping 70 percent — and when printed copies are sold on newsstands, publishers get a lot less than 70 percent returned to their coffers after all the different wholesalers, distributors and retailers take their cut.
Under terms of the Condé deal, it is expected that subscribers to the print editions of the magazines would get access to iPad versions for no additional charge.
That is similar to the deal Time Inc. hatched earlier this week for Time, Sports Illustrated and Fortune, and which it had in place already for People magazine.
Condé Nast is expected to soon add Brides, a ninth title, to its iPad app offerings. Vogue, the flagship edited by Anna Wintour, currently has only a cover application offering.
Bloomy boom
Bloomberg LP, the data and media company founded by Mayor Mike Bloomberg, is booming.
In its first quarter, the privately held behemoth told its employees this week, sales hit a record $1.825 billion, up 11.1 percent over the year-ago quarter.
The media portion of the company has been a consistent loss leader but its magazines, including Bloomberg Businessweek and Bloomberg Markets, plus its TV and radio operations, are trying to bring that segment into the black. But with terminal sales booming on a reviving Wall Street, it doesn’t appear to make much difference.
A company spokesman declined to comment.
Book buy
Markus Dohle, the chairman of Bertelsmann, the world’s biggest book publisher, has made his first acquisition since taking over the media giant in June 2008 — and he isn’t devouring another publisher.
He purchased a Seattle-based digital media design firm called Smashing Ideas, to work with Random House, the American subsidiary of Bertelsmann, to develop mobile and digital apps.
Smashing Ideas was founded by CEO Stephen Jackson, who is staying on board and will continue to run the company he founded 15 years ago.
He worked with Random House children’s books and developed mobile apps for its “Pat the Bunny” and Wild About Books franchises. Both soared to No. 1 in the Apple app store when they were initially released.
In addition to Random House, Smashing Ideas has done work for Hasbro, Mattel, Walt Disney and Microsoft.
“It’s a tremendous opportunity to access content that we don’t have,” said Jackson. The company has 70 employees.
Terms of the deal were not dis closed. kkelly@nypost.com