GQ gives Magazine industry a glimmer of hope

Everyone remembers the laughable response Conde Naste magazine’s, GQ, received after they announced they would be selling their December “Man of the Year” issue as an iphone application for $2.99. How in the world can the glossy detail of a full magazine be expressed on a screen barely larger then a deck of cards? Well, apparently the $2.99 app sold 6,641 times and the January issue has sold almost twice as many times with over 12,000 downloads. Adage reports that the total sales of $60,000 is only a small drop in the bucket but advertisers and industry analysts are excited to see such a positive response on what was thought to be a doomed effort.

Hopefully such promising news will boost confidence in other online media adventures. The rumored apple “islate/ipad” has had Warner, Conde Nast, Meredith, Hearst and News Corp and any other news publication scrambling to beef up their graphics department. They’ve all joined forces to push into the rapidly growing field of online magazines and from the demo’s floating about online it looks pretty exciting.

The I-slate is supposedly being announced January 27th. Who knows what new advertising opportunities will present themselves in this emerging online platform?