Conde Nast said Monday it has attracted 242,000 subscribers for iPad editions of its titles in the first six weeks after launching in May. The bulk of the digital sign-ups -- 136,000 -- have come from
print subscribers adding the iPad app version at no extra cost.
"The digital counts are increasing every day, and while this represents a small portion of our subscription circulation, we
find it incredibly promising -- especially given the short time we have been marketing subscriptions," stated Monica Ray, executive vice president, consumer marketing at Conde Nast.
Apple in
February rolled out a subscription model for the iPad and other devices, but initially some publishers balked at the conditions, including Apple's 30% cut of sales and control over subscriber data.
Conde Nast began offering subscriptions via the App Store in May for eight titles: Allure, Glamour, Golf Digest, GQ, Self, The New Yorker, Wired, and Vanity Fair.
Since introducing
the first digital edition of GQ in November 2009, Condé Nast has had nearly 1 million paid downloads of its digital magazine editions on Apple devices, Barnes & Noble's Nook Color and the
Kindle.