HP and Condé Nast partner to deliver magazines direct to printers

October 12, 2011 By Mike Flacy

In a move that's sure to require an enormous forest to supply the paper required for this project, HP and Condé Nast are teaming up to deliver content to consumer printers rather than the newsstand.

Since Hewlett-Packard has turned away from the tablet business and discontinued the webOS-enabled HP TouchPad, the company announced a partnership with magazine publisher Condé Nast to create a subscription model that sends Condé Nast publications directly to a HP web-connected printer. For instance, consumers could subscribe to the digital versions of Epicurious, Wired or Glamour and schedule these publications for printing on personal or workplace HP printers. It’s unclear if the user will be able to cherry pick selections of the digital magazine to print through a piece of software on the computer or if the subscription requires printing the entire magazine including full-page advertisements that are sure to use up plenty of printer ink.

In conjunction with this subscription model, HP is launching a pilot subscription service called HP Instant Ink. This service would deliver replacement ink cartridges to customers in the workplace or at home for a discounted prices. HP officials claim that the discounts could reach up to 50 percent of the cost of a typical cartridge replacement in a retail outlet. However, any potential savings on the cartridge would likely be offset by the amount of ink used in printing out entire magazines from Condé Nast. The HP Instant Ink program is priced from $5.99 to $10.99 a month and is completely dependent on the type of ink cartridge needed.

While these combinations are likely designed to increase the amount of ink used within a typical consumer-model HP printer, it’s unclear if consumers will spend time and money printing an entire magazine rather than simply picking up a copy at a newsstand or receiving delivery by mail. Both programs will initially be tested in the northeastern United States at select retailers. Other confirmed Condé Nast publications that will be available in the program include Allure, Details, Golf Digest and Self.

Showing 4 comments

Tom Pajak at 3:33pm 13th October 2011 I can see WHY they want to do this..they must be losing money on every magazine that sits unsold..so why not just make a Redbox style system that can print better quality that prints Magazines and Newspapers from anywhere around the world?..this way I don't need to invest in a ton of ink and paper myself
Ian Bell at 9:44pm 12th October 2011 Terrible and lazy idea. I bet this gets canceled right away. No one in their right mind will waste paper or ink to print out a magazine. The costs would far outweigh just buying it at the news stand.
1. TechFreak at 10:19pm 12th October 2011 Agree. It's a very stupid idea. Another question I have is whether advertisements will be printed out too ( I would assume so). If that's a case, people would literally be paying money to have someone advertise to them!
  1. Jeffrey Van Camp at 5:49am 13th October 2011 Wow. Well, I think this will, at least, show people how much paper is wasted on ads and boring crap when a magazine is printed. I can also see people trying really hard to stop the latest issue of Cracked from printing while high class guests are in the house.