Apple's iPad Closes Out 2010, but Still Isn't Print's Savior

The year isn't quite over, but it's already clear that 2010 was not the year in which Apple's iPad became the savior of print. With the (almost) end of year data in, the iPad so far looks like a productivity and gaming device -- not a digital print consumption one. The only top 10 paid app from the media biz, per iTunes (channeled through Business Insider), is the Glee Karoake app -- as in Glee, the TV show. It came in at no. 6.

Four of the top five were productivity tools, like Apple's Keynote, with no. 4 being the game "Angry Birds" described by BI as "where you launch birds at evil pigs." Sounds like fun -- but the rebirth of Vanity Fair, it ain't. As I've said in the past, part of the problem is pricing. It's not uncommon for a magazine to charge the same for a monthly download of its latest iPad issue as many app developers charge for owning an app in perpetuity. On an annual basis, that means some magazine iPad apps can be compared -- unfavorably -- to the most expensive iPad apps there are. Then there's the not-so-small issue of a subscription model not being available through the iTunes store yet, for whatever reason -- though People and the Washington Post seem to have developed workarounds.

Which is to say it's possible that magazine apps will be more popular a year from now if some of these kinks are worked out. Interestingly enough, Apple just named Flipboard -- the app that turns content shared on Facebook and Twitter into an iPad magazine -- its "App of the Year." Hope springs eternal!

Related:

• Washington Post Brings a Subscription Model to iPad-- but How?
• People Breaks Ranks, Makes Its iPad App Free to Subscribers. Duh
• Note to Magazine Industry: Your iPad Apps Are Too Expensive
• Flipboard: More Proof That Magazines Are the iPad's Killer App
• iPad Paid Media Apps: Still Not Hot, But Maybe That's Good
• iPad/Paid Media Love Affair? Not At These Prices
• Apple's iPad a Print Savior? Three Reasons Why It's Not Even Close