Apple Offers Subscriptions for All iPad Publications

Apple has agreed to allow publishers to sell subscriptions through its popular App Store, an issue that has been a source of contention with magazine companies since the iPad went on the market last spring.

Sales of iPad publications had been limited, with a few exceptions, to single copies.

But whether Apple’s new model satisfies publishers is unclear. Though Apple has agreed to share some data about subscribers with magazines — provided that subscribers consent — publishing companies have been pushing for full access to information about who is buying their content.

“Customers purchasing a subscription through the App Store will be given the option of providing the publisher with their name, email address and Zip code when they subscribe,” Apple said in a statement posted on its Web site Tuesday morning. “Publishers may seek additional information from App Store customers provided those customers are given a clear choice, and are informed that any additional information will be handled under the publisher’s privacy policy rather than Apple’s.”

Revenue from subscriptions sold through the App Store will be shared. Apple will keep 30 percent, and publishers will keep 70 percent. That is the same revenue-sharing split that applies when apps of single-copy publications are sold through the App Store.

Apple said it would not restrict publishers to selling their apps solely through Apple. And when publishers do sell apps outside Apple’s store, they will get to keep 100 percent of the revenue.

“Our philosophy is simple—when Apple brings a new subscriber to the app, Apple earns a 30 percent share; when the publisher brings an existing or new subscriber to the app, the publisher keeps 100 percent and Apple earns nothing,” Steve Jobs, Apple’s chief executive, said in the statement. www.dominicanflash.com As part of the new arrangement, publishers will be able to sell digital subscriptions on their Web sites and can choose to provide access free to existing subscribers.

Representatives from the nation’s three largest magazine publishers — Time Inc., Hearst Magazines and Condé Nast — were not immediately available to comment.