Newsstand in iOS 5 Fueling Growth of New Magazine Subscriptions

AllThingsD takes a look at how the launch of Apple's Newsstand feature as part of iOS 5 has affected subscription sales for Popular Science magazine, revealing that the prominent placement of the Newsstand app and easy access to updated content has driven a substantial increase in new subscriptions.

The chart comes to us courtesy of Mag+, Bonnier’s tablet-publishing software business. And as Mag+ CEO Staffan Ekholm points out, the really promising indicator for Pop Sci isn’t the one-week sales leap of 13 percent — it’s that the the magazine’s growth picked up after that week, with more velocity.

Based on the graph, Popular Science appears to have been adding new subscribers at a fairly constant rate of about 700 per week during the several months leading up to the debut of iOS 5. But more than a month after the significant bump immediately following iOS 5's release, the magazine is still seeing subscription growth at nearly double the rate seen before the arrival of Newsstand.

popular science newsstand subs
Apple developed Newsstand as a way to allow users to keep track of what could be a large number of magazine and newspaper subscriptions, housing them all in a dedicated folder where they can be updated in the background and display the latest covers to help users identify new content.

Apple is not alone, however, in trying to provide centralized access to subscription newspaper and magazine content. Just this week, Amazon updated its Kindle iOS app to add support for its newsstand of over 400 newspapers and magazines on the iPad.

Popular Stories

apple watch ultra 2 new black

Apple Watch Ultra 3 Finally Coming After Two-Year Hiatus

Monday June 16, 2025 8:45 am PDT by
Apple will finally deliver the Apple Watch Ultra 3 sometime this year, according to analyst Jeff Pu of GF Securities Hong Kong (via @jukanlosreve). The analyst expects both the Apple Watch Series 11 and Apple Watch Ultra 3 to arrive this year (likely alongside the new iPhone 17 lineup, if previous launches are anything to go by), according to his latest product roadmap shared with...
iPhone 17 Pro Blue Feature Tighter Crop

iPhone 17 Pro Launching in Three Months With These 12 New Features

Saturday June 14, 2025 5:45 pm PDT by
The iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are three months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of June 2025:Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone X through iPhone 14 Pro have a...
apple wallet drivers license feature iPhone 15 pro

iPhone Driver's Licenses: These 17 U.S. States Offer Them or Will Later

Thursday June 19, 2025 11:28 am PDT by
In select U.S. states, residents can add their driver's license or state ID to the Wallet app on the iPhone and Apple Watch, providing a convenient and contactless way to display proof of identity or age at select airports and businesses, and in select apps. Unfortunately, this feature continues to roll out very slowly since it was announced in 2021, with only nine U.S. states and Puerto...
iOS 18

Apple Releases iOS 18.6 Public Beta

Wednesday June 18, 2025 10:24 am PDT by
Apple today seeded the first betas of upcoming iOS 18.6 and iPadOS 18.6 updates to public beta testers, with the betas coming just a few days after Apple provided the betas to developers. Testers who have signed up for beta updates through Apple's beta site can download iOS 18.6 and iPadOS 18.6 from the Settings app on a compatible device by going to General > Software Update. When the...
ios 26 call holding

iOS 26 Beta is Hiding a New Ringtone — Here's What It Sounds Like

Thursday June 19, 2025 7:25 pm PDT by
Apple is hiding a new ringtone within iOS 26. The new ringtone is an alternative version of the existing Reflection ringtone, which has been the default ringtone since the iPhone X was released in 2017. It was discovered within the code for the first developer beta of iOS 26, but it remains hidden, so you will not find it in the list of ringtones available in the Settings app for now. It...
iOS 26 on Three iPhones

Apple Says iOS 26 Won't Be Available on These iPhone Models

Tuesday June 10, 2025 6:58 am PDT by
Apple this week revealed that iOS 26 is compatible with the iPhone 11 series and newer. That means that iOS 18 is the end of the road for the iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR, which were all released in 2018. However, those devices will continue to receive security updates for at least a few more years. iOS 26 is compatible with the following iPhone models: iPhone 16e iPhone...
new iphone lockscreen ios 26

iOS 26: Five Changes Coming to Your iPhone Lock Screen

Tuesday June 17, 2025 8:46 am PDT by
With iOS 26, Apple has made some additions to the iPhone Lock Screen that aim to make it more customizable than ever. Of course, things can always change before the software makes its way to the general iPhone-owning public, but here are five new things iOS 26 can do on the Lock Screen as of the current developer beta. Widgets Top or Bottom In iOS 18, the row of widgets on your Lock...
apple watch ultra snow

6 Features Coming to the Apple Watch Ultra 3

Tuesday February 25, 2025 9:00 am PST by
The Apple Watch Ultra 3 is expected to launch later this year, arriving two years after the previous model with a series of improvements. While no noticeable design changes are expected for the third generation since the company tends to stick with the same Apple Watch design through three generations before changing it, there are a series of internal upgrades on the way. By the time the ...
General Spotify Feature

Spotify Preparing to Launch Long-Awaited Lossless Audio Tier on iPhone

Thursday June 19, 2025 1:46 pm PDT by
Spotify appears to be gearing up to launch its long-awaited lossless music tier. Chris Messina (via TechCrunch) and Spicetify (via The Verge) spotted new lossless references within the code for Spotify's desktop app and web player. With assistance from Aaron Perris, MacRumors has confirmed that the latest beta of the Spotify app for the iPhone also contains new lossless-related code....

Top Rated Comments

newagemac Avatar
176 months ago
Of course there's also Zinio (http://www.zinio.com) which has been around much longer than Newsstand. It's also cross platform so you can read your issues on your iPad, iPhone and Mac, PC and Android phone. Plus they have a much wider selection. Still no Macworld or Rolling Stone on Newsstand.
The problem with Zinio is the magazines in it are nothing more than PDF versions of their print magazines. The stuff on Newsstand can be entirely new concepts that are fully interactive to take advantage of the multitouch interface.

And Adobe's new Digital Publishing Suite works with it. We should be seeing some really good stuff coming out over the next few years with designers and publishers targeting the touch interface first rather than just porting print or web stuff to a digital touch based medium. Which is the same thing that made touch based apps and games successful.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
AaronEdwards Avatar
176 months ago
I'm not sure if Newstand is fueling a long time growth.

The first week this app was released there were 4140 new subscribers, then it dropped to 2076 the next week. The first week of Newstand there were 3676 new subscribers, the week after that it dropped to 2125.

The average new subscriptions for the first six weeks is 1691. The average new subscriptions the first six weeks after the launch of Newstand, 1832. That's an increase of just 141 extra subscriptions per week, or 8%.

I'd wait a couple more months before declaring Newstand being a success for publishers.

Another way to make the point.

Does anyone remember The Daily? Anyone still reading it?
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
mkrishnan Avatar
176 months ago
I'd like to see more apps work like the Newstand though. Click it and a drawer opens below for quick access.

I'd like to see more apps work in Newsstand. Months later, NYT is the only news app that I have that appears in the Newsstand. USA Today, WSJ, CNN, MLive, Fox, Michigan Public Radio, Valet, etc, all do not.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ipedro Avatar
176 months ago
It looks like Apple will single handedly save print media like they did the music industry.

I'd like to see more apps work like the Newstand though. Click it and a drawer opens below for quick access.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
dokujaryu Avatar
176 months ago


:-P
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
vrDrew Avatar
176 months ago
I thought Apple was out to destroy the print industry?

How does offering electronic (valueless) versions or currently printed media help the print industry?

I'm a digital NY Times subscriber. I wouldn't subscribe to the paper version for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is there is no daily delivery in the city I live in. I'm also able to enjoy my subscription anywhere in the world, rather than letting copies pile up on my doorstep or in my mailbox.

A couple of million people like me add up to half a billion dollars a year in revenue for the NY Times they simply would never be able to capture without the iOS subscription model. That half billion or so is the difference between the Times being a viable top quality newspaper, or having to slash its editorial and news gathering budgets.

Newsstand may not be perfect, and undoubtedly publishers have some details to work out, but long term I see it being a major plus for journalism.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)