• by Erik Sass , September 21, 2010

Digital circulation and advertising revenues from new devices like the iPad will make up roughly one-third of Conde Nast's total publishing revenues 15 years from now, according to Nicholas Coleridge, the managing director of Conde Nast U.K.

"I would expect 70% of our sales to come from print and 30%, or even 40%, to come from products such as the iPad," Coleridge was quoted as saying. He made the prediction as Conde Nast prepares to launch its first apps for the U.K. market, for the British editions of Wired and Vogue, at a price of £3.99 ($6.23) per issue, about the same as the cover price for the print issue of each magazine.

According to Coleridge, 18% of the U.K. readership for Wired already owns an iPad. With a circ of 50,000, that comes to about 9,000 readers.

It's not clear whether Coleridge, who was quoted in the Guardian speaking at a conference on digital strategies, was speaking about the U.K. market in particular or Conde Nast's global operations. But given that the company has introduced more mobile apps in the U.S. than the U.K., it seems safe to assume that Coleridge intended this as a global forecast. He said the company has launched 36 iPad apps globally.

In the U.S. market, the Next Issue Media consortium, of which Conde Nast is a member, projects online subscription revenues for newspapers and magazines will rise to $3 billion by 2014 -- with perhaps half going to magazine publishers.