The battle continues between the old school publishers (Conde Nast, Hearst, Meredith, Time) and Apple. The big reason for the delay of a “Hulu for Magazines” on the iPad — magazines have always relied on the demographics of their subscribers to sell ad space to companies who would want to reach that demographic. This apparently has been a sticking point between publishers and Apple, because the latter is unwilling to allow its tools to expose the vast wealth of data that can be tapped from a modern mobile device connected to a purchasing account. Google is very eager to “play nice” with the magazine world — so that’s why the “Hulu for Magazines” is currently “Android-only,” according to WSJ’s Peter Kafka:
Next Issue’s initial incarnation will only work for devices running Google’s Android software, CEO Morgan Guenther tells me. It’s not a technical issue, Guenther says, because “we’re ready to support Apple as well,” and he says he’s confident that will happen. But “Android is a very important tablet platform, and a very important platform for smartphones.” – read more
