Time, Apple Strike Deal on iPad Access for Print Subscribers

Time, the giant magazine publisher, has reached a deal with Apple to provide its magazine subscribers with access to the iPad versions of its publications, a Time spokesperson confirmed, in an important step toward detente between the publishing industry and the Cupertino, California, tech giant.

But the two sides have yet to agree on a deal that would pave the way for nonprint subscribers to subscribe to the iPad-only versions of magazines. At present, digital-only readers must purchase Time?s iPad magazine applications one issue at a time.

The deal to grant access to existing print subscribers, which was first reported by The Wall Street Journal, represents an important incremental step toward a solution to what has been an occasionally acrimonious tug-of-war between publishers and Apple for control over the iPad application subscription process ? and perhaps more importantly, control over access to digital subscribers.

?This is a step in the right direction,? said a source familiar with the deal, who added that more work remains to be done hammering out an agreement over digital-only subscriptions.

Starting Monday, according to The Journal, print subscribers to Time?s titles will be able to access the iPad versions for free. In a key technical breakthrough, the various iPad applications will be able to authenticate existing print subscribers and then allow them access. Time?s People Magazine already had such a arrangement with Apple; today?s pact brings the rest of Time?s stable into the fold.

The agreement, terms of which were not disclosed, is a welcome bit of news for Time, which publishes such titles as Fortune, Time and Sports Illustrated. The venerable magazine publisher, the nation?s largest, has faced internal uncertainty in recent months following the ouster of CEO Jack Griffin in February, after Jeff Bewkes, CEO of Time?s parent company Time Warner, determined that Griffin ?did not mesh? with the company?s culture.

Senior executives at Time, including general counsel Maurice Edelson, chief financial officer Howard Averill and editorial honcho John Huey had apparently chafed under Griffin?s management style, leading up to a ?furious run-in? with Edelson on the 34th floor of Time headquarters, according to the New York Post?s Keith J. Kelly. Griffin?s firing led to a round of recriminations in which the former Meredith publishing executive defended his record after he?d been shown the door.

Since Griffin?s ouster, Huey, Edelson and Averill have been running the company as a three-person committee on an interim basis. Time?s executive search firm, Heidrick & Struggles, has begun to identify candidates to replace Griffin, The Journal reported, but a decision isn?t expected until late summer. Time Warner reports quarterly earnings Wednesday.

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for further details about the agreement.

Source: http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2011/05/time-apple-ipad/

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