One publisher has finally signed on for Apple's subscription platform. On Wednesday, Hearst announced that it would make subscriptions available on the iPad for a handful of its magazines.
Three of Hearst's publications, Esquire, Popular Mechanics, and O, The Oprah Magazine, will each be available on the iPad for $1.99 a month or $19.99 a year starting with the July issues.
The Daily Telegraph will also reportedly allow UK-based users of its free iPad app to sign up for £9.99 monthly subscription, according to GigaOm.
Apple unveiled a subscription platform for the App Store earlier this year, but publishers have been hesitant to participate; the general consensus is that the terms of the model aren't fair. The plan gives 70 percent of sales to the publisher and awards the remaining 30 percent to Apple. Apple also retains full control of subscribers' personal information.
Earlier this week, Time, Inc. announced it would make iPad editions of Fortune, Sports Illustrated, and Time free to print subscribers. But Hearst is the first publisher to actually start selling magazine subscriptions on the iPad, according to the Financial Times.
"It's an equitable and fair deal for both sides," Hearst Magazines vice president of public relations Jessica Kleiman told the FT. "There was a lot of back and forth and we feel it's a fair agreement in terms of sharing the data and owning the customers together."
While it's unlikely Apple altered the terms of its model, it appears Hearst couldn't resist the huge audience of potential magazine readers on Apple's popular tablet.
"The feedback we heard from consumers over and over was that they wanted to be able to subscribe on the iPad," Kleiman said. "So we do feel like it's an important part of the mix."
Apple iPad magazines have had a series of false starts. They struggled to catch on, due in part to the initial lack of a subscription model, with many publications seeing strong first-month sales followed by an immediate decline. But with its controversial terms, the subscription model hasn't solved this issue, and major publishers including Conde Nast, Time Inc., Meredith, and others have yet to make magazine subscriptions available on the iPad. But it's possible that Hearst's announcement is the beginning of a trend.