British publisher Pearson has committed to an $89.5 million investment in Barnes & Noble's Nook Media subsidiary. The stock acquisition represents a five-percent stake in the Nook division, which will continue to be controlled by Barnes & Noble's 78.2-percent ownership.
Condé Nast rounded out its burst of iTunes subscription changeovers by adding two of its more popular magazines to the mix. Both GQ (free, App Store) and Wired (App Store) for the iPad now follow the same model that the publisher started earlier this month with the New Yorker. Readers can pay either $20 for a yearly subscription or $2 for each individual issue; print subscribers get access for free.
(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.
Apple on Wednesday confirmed that the sudden flood of iTunes magazine subscriptions available in recent days was due to a change of heart by publishers. Internet services VP Eddy Cue told tablet magazine publisher Nomad Editions' Mark Edmiston that publishers had found about 50 percent of all readers voluntarily providing their names and e-mail addresses when asked. The "insurmountable obstacle" of a lack of automatic access to subscriber info turned out to be a non-issue, Edmiston explained to Forbes.
The Financial Times on Monday further established a possible impasse on iTunes subscriptions through a new interview. Managing director Rob Grimshaw said that direct subscriptions were "the core of our business model" and still didn't want to follow Apple's new rule requiring an iTunes royalty cut with reduced subscriber data. He insisted to Reuters that the FT's parent company Pearson had a "great relationship" with Apple, but he was prepared to drop the iPad to go to Android or another platform if negotiations didn't pan out.
The Financial Times' publisher Pearson late Monday warned it might leave the iPad and iPhone if it couldn't get reader information. CEO Marjorie Scardino was adamant on an investors' call that Pearson was "still talking" to Apple but was concerned that its iTunes subscription rules wouldn't let her newspaper get demographic information to target ads. If it couldn't get what it wanted, it might jump ship to Android tablets and other platforms where that information was readily available.
Kno on Monday night said that its 14-inch tablets will ship on Tuesday. Both the single- and dual-screen versions will be available and will cost the promised $599 and $899, respectively. New sales are currently limited to an invite-only system due to high demand, Kno said, although it hasn't said how many it will be shipping on launch day.
