Popular Science+ First Out with Subscriptions on the iPad

Popular Science+ will soon be available for iPad users who want an annual subscription. The Bonnier Corporation title is one of the first to take advantage of Apple's new subscription service.

"We believe that offering subscriptions on the iPad and through the iTunes store is a very good start for us and more importantly for our consumers," says Gregg Hano, Vice President, Group Publisher of the Bonnier Technology Group, which includes Popular Science. "The No. 1 complaint we heard about our app in the iTunes store related to price and this has now been dealt with by offering 12 issues for USD 14.95.  We are also excited about the fact that subscribers will have the option to opt in and share their email addresses and allow us to communicate with them.  In this evolving space, we feel this is a great move in the right direction."  

The limited-time sale price of USD 14.99 per year for 12 issues is a 70 percent savings over the newsstand price of USD 4.99 per issue. Subscribers will receive a notification every month that the new issue is available for download, and the subscription will automatically renew annually unless the customer chooses to cancel. The standard rate for a yearly subscription will be USD 19.99. Single issue downloads will still be available for USD 4.99 through In-App Purchase. The app is available here at Apple's App store.

The ability to offer subscriptions represents the latest step in the development of Popular Science for tablets, Hano says. "We will soon see enhancements to the Mag+ platform, including better navigation, an enhanced in app store front and continuing to improve our ability to capture analytics," he says. "In addition, a team is also actively working on being able to publish on the Android platform like the Samsung Galaxy and Motorola Xoom, and at being on digital newsstands offered by many of our partners."