• Media Memo, Wednesday, July 28, 2010 12:38 PM

Along with other publishers, Time Inc. has heralded the iPad as its savior. Behind the scenes, however, the platform is the cause of great frustration, reports Media Memo. Why? "Because the magazine giant has been unable to get Apple to let it sell and manage subscriptions for its iPad apps -- much to Time Inc.'s surprise." For instance, the publisher was recently prevented from launching a subscription version of its Sports Illustrated iPad app, where consumers would download the magazines via Apple's iTunes, but would pay Time Inc. directly.

Time Inc. execs "have been going nuts," sources tell Media Memo, and trying to figure out how to get Apple to approve a subscription plan. The publisher even briefly considered pulling its apps out of the iTunes store altogether. Presently, not a single magazine publisher has approval sell its own iTunes app subscriptions, according to Media Memo. What Apple's rationale? "One theory: Apple is concerned about [publishers'] plans for the consumer data [they] would collect with each subscription," writes Media Memo. "A darker one: Steve Jobs loves the idea of digital magazines and wants to control the market for himself."

Read the whole story at Media Memo »