Time Inc., bringing all 21 U.S. titles to tablets

August 3, 2011 By Geoff Duncan

Time plans to launch tablet editions of all 21 of its U.S. magazine titles - including Entertainment Weekly and InStyle - by the end of the year.

Time Inc. has decided to double down on the the tablet and e-reader revolution, announcing today that it plans to launch tablet editions of all 21 of its U.S. magazine properties by the end of the year. The announcement means that titles like Entertainment Weekly, InStyle, and Real Simple will join the likes of People, Sports Illustrated, Fortune, and Time itself on tablets and ereader devices—and will make Time Inc. the first major U.S. magazine publisher to push tablet editions of all its titles.

“In the coming year, there will clearly be many more consumers using tablets, accelerating demand for content and driving advertiser interest. We are putting ourselves in a great position to take advantage of these opportunities,” said Time Inc. executive VP Maurice Edelson, in a statement. “Having our entire portfolio available on tablets will create a significant new digital reach for our advertisers.”

Time says its existing digital editions have been downloaded more than 11 million times, and that “hundreds of thousands” of print subscribers have upgraded their subscriptions to include no-extra-cost digital editions.

Time Inc. currently offers titles for the Apple iPad and HP TouchPad, as well as on the Android Marketplace and Next Issue Media’s store. The company also announced a deal with Barnes & Noble to sell digital subscriptions and single issues of Fortune, People, Sports Illustrated, and Time on the Nook Color beginning later in August, with the rest of the company’s lineup going to the Nook Color by the end of 2011.

Digital editions of Time’s publications will include print ads—Time claims consumers “place a high value” on digital versions of print publications that include all the ads.

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Magazine_Design at 11:27am 5th August 2011 This is a pretty bold move by Time, considering how many resources are needed to put together a tablet edition, whether it's a native app or HTML5-based format. But I guess if you're a major magazine publisher, you need to be out in front of the trends and taking every opportunity to grab (and retain) market share. With the emergence of more affordable e-readers like the Nook (as compared to the pricier iPad), digital magazines may be able to get more of a foothold in the marketplace during next couple of years. Print still makes up the largest portion of revenues (by a large margin) for most large magazine publishers, but if tablet makers are able to bring hardware costs down, digital editions will likely become a more significant contributor to overall profitability — and even perhaps begin to truly revolutionize the publishing industry.