Vanity Fair signs up for iTunes subs for iPad

(Update: more magazines onboard) Vanity Fair on Monday became Condé Nast's next magazine to enlist for iTunes subscriptions. The iPad app (free, App Store) follows a similar pattern to last week and can take subscriptions of $20 per year along with $2 per issue either in a recurring subscription or per issue. Print subscribers in Canada and the US also get the magazine for free and at the same yearly price.

The magazine is just the second from the publisher to make the jump after The New Yorker and still doesn't include magazines like Wired. No mention has been made of when other publications would follow suit.

Adoption from the lifestyle magazine comes after Apple's deal with Hearst and puts pressure on companies so far resisting the model, such as Pearson. Publishers had been holding out over fear that they wouldn't automatically get private information to target advertising. Apple has revealed, however, that subscribers are opting in with large enough numbers that the private data may not be necessary.

Many magazines faced relatively slow sales before iTunes subscriptions because their absence forced them to go only per-issue and encouraged use of the much steeper $5 newsstand price. Publishers have usually preferred to have their own subscription systems.

Update: Along with Vanity Fair, Condé has also rolled out subscriptions for Allure (), Glamour (App Store), and Golf Digest (App Store). All have the same $2 per issue and $20 yearly pricing.

Major magazines like GQ and Wired should get the subscription option by the end of May.

By Electronista Staff

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industry, gadgets, iTunes, Hearst, Conde Nast, iPad, iPad apps, Pearson