Newsstand launched, the NYTimes for iPad app saw 189,000 new user downloads, up seven times from only 27,000 the week before, spokeswoman Danielle Rhoades Ha told me.
That’s impressive, but it’s nothing compared to the NYTimes iPhone app, which saw 1.8 million new downloads that week, 85 times more than the 21,000 downloads the week before. Nearly one-fifth of the 9.1 million people who have ever downloaded the NYTimes iPhone app did so last week, with the launch of Newsstand.
If you already downloaded the NY Times app it self-deletes itself and reloads in Newsstand (on iOS5). The functionality isn’t all that different but it does send you push alerts, which are surprisingly interesting.
It’s nice to have a NY Times editor send you critical news items.
I also think it looks cool to have an actual newspaper image on my iPad/iPhone.
Condé Nast suggested on Tuesday that tablet magazines might have turned a corner with the launch of iOS 5. Since the iPad received access to Newsstand, subscriptions across titles like GQ and The New Yorker climbed 268 percent. Single issues reaped their own rewards and spiked 142 percent, the publisher said.
Unfortunately, only the NY Times provides free content. The rest are subscription only. I don’t think Newsstand can maintain its success unless there is more free content. Otherwise, why not just go to the free website of these magazines/newspapers?