GQ’s iPhone app proves popular

Condé Nast’s latest GQ iPhone application is proving to be a hit with consumers in the US.

In December, the publisher made the ‘Men of the Year’ version of the print edition available as an iPhone app for $2.99 for the first time, which sold 6,641 times, according to new results from Condé Nast.

The second edition app, which enables users to download and read January’s issue of GQ for the same price of $2.99 has already sold more than 12,000 times.

By comparison, GQ‘s December issue sold 240,000 copies at newsstands in the US and was delivered to another 667,851 US print subscribers.

However, the app’s sales figures are still thought to be positive for the publisher and for other consumer magazines hoping to launch similar digital formats.

Four of the top magazine publishers in the US have already teamed up with News Corporation to develop a storefront for digital editions of print magazines for new devices such as Apple’s soon-to-be-released tablet computer.

Publishers are hoping the tablet and similar devices will enable them to charge for high-quality and enhanced digital editions of magazines, which users may otherwise hope to download for free via the internet.

The latest digital formats are also expected to have a positive impact on ad revenues, as the number of times an app is purchased counts towards the magazine’s circulation figure.

Condé Nast said it is pleased with the uptake of the GQ app, which has seen readers spending as much time engaging with the digital version of the magazine as they do with the print editions.

To boost sales, the publisher also plans to knock a dollar off the app price of the March edition for users who have downloaded the previous two issues.  Condé Nast hopes to develop a subscription package for regular users as well.

Hearst Magazines has already followed in Condé Nast’s footsteps with an Esquire app, implying that other publishers will jump on the bandwagon soon.